The Ways of An Irken
by Midnight Minute
Summary: After getting wounded and patched up by Gaz, the now older, fully grown Irken Invader realizes certain desires for a certain older, fully grown mortal, who has no defenses to stop him from plotting against her.
1. Admission

_(Chapter revised 03/26/2012)_

Hey guys!

Midnight here! Guess what? I have stumbled across a new show- Invader Zim! I love the characters, love the humor, however I wish that it didn't get cancelled after the 2nd season...so I decided that I would take the characters I like and make a fun after story to it all. Everyone wants their own Irken- right?

Disclaimer- I do not own Invader Zim, it's characters, or Bloaty's Pizza. I DO however own a very nice set of coffee mugs.

Be jealous.

Tee-hee. Let's set up our characters. We have this set around Gaz, the first person view of this story. She is a few months over 18, and headed towards college. Zim is still around, still trying to conquer earth of course, and that is generally our plot. I'm sure you can imagine, but it will be a great fun read. Enjoy!

iiii

"Here" I said placidly, handing the rather large woman my personal information form.

She looked up from her computer screen, grabbing the form absent mindedly, "Thank you Ms...uh- Gaz. Just follow the hall to the left for student orientation, dorm room placement, and general hubbub for the new starting semester. We welcome you to Trinka Falls College."

I said nothing more, picking up my suit case and moving down the hall. I decided to stop in the bathroom, moving to the mirror to fix my wild purple hair into submission. The heat was causing my hair to afro out into a puff ball that absorbed quite a large section of my head now. Why did I decide to grow my hair out again? It was just past my shoulders now, and I told myself that I would like long hair, but never would I have imagined that I would be living in a place like this. My hair was becoming almost impossible to manage.

With a loud sigh, I tied my hair behind my head, grabbing my luggage again and continuing back out to the hall.

Trinka Falls, my new place of residence, was about a good five hours from Phoenix Arizona and any other form of civilization for that matter. It was like this college was a survival camp. There was nothing out here. The nearest grocery store was over two hours away if you kept a consistent speed of ninety miles per hour, and what was worse, an entire plane ride away from a 'local' Bloaty's pizza. Ridiculous.

I was never thrilled with college to begin with, but when my over achiever brother wouldn't shut up about college, Dad decided to ask me about my college plans. Not going hadn't been an option at that point, and so Dad pulled some strings to get me into a good college.

'The fast tracks to success are paved through prestegious universities' , he had stated, explaining that I would only be attending an advanced school that was worthy of my time. The place of my demise? Arizona in the _summer_. I had never even heard of this place! It was like there was some god angry at me, sentencing me to live with annoying college students with nothing better than to learn, by choice, and still actually pay for it.

Dib was off to some Ivy League Science/Space College, so I was left to fend for myself here in this insane heat wave.

Whatever.

I entered the main court yard, littered with various college students; the sun frying them all. I was certain we would all have our own tanks of chemo by our senior year, for the chronic attacks of skin cancer that was sure to come. Almost instantly, a perky middle aged woman with a smile that took up most of her face pranced over to me, speaking way too fast with a nervous twitch every few seconds.

This would be interesting.

"Hi there! I'm Kelly- student coordinator of Trinka- and let me tell you that you will simply love-"

"Dorm room. Now." I cut her off, popping out a hip as I set my suit case down. I didn't have time to get 'connected' with the student body. I just wanted to get to my dorm, lock the door, and scream.

Her smile didn't falter, though her eyes twitched repetitively for a few moments before she was able to speak again, "Right, and your name?"

"Gaz. Gaz Membrane."

"OK then Gaz, welcome to Trinka! If you would like me to show you around or tell you about-"

"Just the dorm room. I want to unpack as soon as possible."

She grabbed out her clipboard, looking down the papers in it until she finally looked back up, almost giving me a heart attack with her incredibly creepy, large grin, "Well Gaz, my paper says your dorm is in sector C, room seven- but that can't be right because that are the apartments the college loans out to the incredibly rich children. That would mean you are one of three children that purchased them- and that simply isn't-"

I rolled my eyes, walking off towards the dorms.

As if I would share a room with some preppy cheerleader girl?

No.

Plus, Dad was far too worried that I would have to share a room with some creeper girl, or girl that had her boyfriend over...or just any boy in general. Thereby, my own apartment via Trinka Falls. Not like it would do much good. So far out of civilization, what would I put in the room? I had my clothes, a few trinkets, necessities and such, but as for decorations...food...nothing. I would have to make Dad come up with some system that would deliver stuff to my apartment for me, because there was no way I was driving two hours each week for food.

Did I like my car? Yes. It was black and brand new. I don't even know what it was, but it was fast, and that was good enough for me. Thinking about it now though, with where I was, my car might as well have been a tricycle. There was nothing around here, and therefore, no where to drive to.

I found my way towards the apartments, noting with dread that my apartment, apartment number seven, was on the very top floor, towering down over the apartments and most of the campus for that matter. Not like it would kill me to walk up the SEVEN flights of stairs- but really? Only three were rented out and I HAD to be the one to get the one on top?

You'd think they would have an elevator or something but of course not. At least I would be getting a good view though.

I groaned in frustration, pulling the suddenly heavier bag up the first flight of stairs. If I ever fell down these stairs and lived to tell about it, I promised myself that I would see this entire establishment destroyed. After what felt like an agonizing trip through the Sahara, I finally got to my apartment door, cursing like a sailor at the heat, the mountain climbing, and general agony of the situation. College was just going to be great.

I walked in the door, pleased to see that the key was sitting on the kitchen table with a note to me. I skim read it, noting that it was the lame rules that no one would ever follow, crushing it to a small wad of nothingness and tossed it in the trash. I closed the door, walking inside of my apartment, my new prison for the next four years.

College was a frustrating thing for me. Aside from the fact I hadn't wanted to go in the first place, I had no clue what I intended my major to be. I generally had no plan for the rest of my existence, and college was a daily reminder of that exact problem. Screw it.

Forcefully clearing my mind of the dilemma, I decided to put my mind to work over analyzing the apartment.

It was nice all in all, the floor plan was well organized. To my immediate left was the living room, my immediate right the kitchen, down the hall about twenty feet was a bedroom on the right, the other side of the hall a bathroom- full sized tub and shower and then at the end of the hall was either a small bedroom, or a HUGE walk-in closet. I couldn't decide. However for my intents and purposes, it would become both my closet and gaming room.

If I couldn't drive away from here to get any where special, I could at least send my mind far away into virtual reality. Not a perfect solution, but it would buy me some time to get a hobby or something. It wasn't like Dib would be around for me to get quick laugh at, so I would have to get creative as to finding a new source of entertainment.

Ah well, no matter. I was here like it or not, and I had class first thing in the morning.

Joy.

iiii

"Sally"

"Tracy"

"William"

"Morris"

"Gaz" I stated with little emotion, turning the page in my book with a displeased frown across my face. First day of college. Just when you think you are free from the grips of education when you finally graduate, cold reality knocks some sense into you are introduces you to college.

I planned on getting through it like I had gotten through everything else before it ; do what was required, speak as little as necessary, and keep away from the other students to the best of my ability. It had worked well throughout high school and I was certain it would keep true here.

The names continued sounding off, both a mix of role call and get to know your classmates- I couldn't really care less- at least until one name sounded off.

"I am ZIM!"

My eyes shot open, and I reminded myself to calmly place the book down as I turned towards the voice only a few rows beside me.

Zim.

Here.

Zim- that crazy alien that Dib was always ranting about, keeping him up (meaning me up as well in the process) various late hours in the night. The same Zim that was always trying to take over earth- He was here.

...How did this happen? Of all the chances- all the colleges- heck for him- planets, galaxies, he was HERE in MY class, at the same exact time.

At first I was stressed out by the idea, but then almost instantly found myself smirking slightly. Not that I would have wanted this to happen, but with Zim's strange mannerisms, at least he would provide some entertainment while I was out here serving my time sentence.

Zim looked towards me, sharing that same smirk on his face as I did. He found it humorous that we shared a class as well so it seemed. I rolled my eyes with a scoff, picking my book right back up as class began.

That stupid alien.

Though, he was not nearly as imbecilic as he was when he first came. He had grown up so to say, and was no longer the small green kid that would be shouting the strangest things from the playground. He was still green mind you, however, high school had rendered us all different people. He was now much taller like any other eartherner would grow, he personally was around 5'9 I'd say. To me, aside from his green skin, he looked like any other average young man would- quite the change from the young Zim that always appeared to be twiggy and generally odd compared to the other children.

In high school, he learned to wise up so to say. Though he had never managed to take out earth of course, his stupid plans occurred less and less, replaced by fairly clever and well thought out ones. He managed to shut off all electricity in the entire United States for a full week, as well as changed the magnetic system causing tides and volcanoes to make them at his control. All throughout high school, Zim's plans got better and more thought out, and if it hadn't been for Dib's meddling, the earth would have been doomed before any of us hit our senior year.

Then came graduation.

We all graduated, including Zim (his 'parents' must have been so proud I'm sure) and went separate ways. I didn't think I'd run into him again, which was fine with me. Zim was nothing more than a strange playmate for my brother, and when the two were around each other they provided hours of comic relief for me- I was fine with that.

It hadn't been all that bad looking back, but I had been looking forward to putting the past to rest.

Oh well. So what if Zim was in my class? As long as he didn't bug me, or try to talk to me, or look at me- ever - than I was fine with his presence. As long as it felt as if his presence weren't present, if that was possible.

The teacher began speaking, and I immediately drowned the voice out. I wasn't even sure what class this was. Business? Math? Science? I suppose listening to the teacher for even a second would tell me about what class I was in at the moment, but the black troll had just captured his third victim that week- not something I could pass up for something as dumb as class.

I only closed the book when the bell rang and students began filing into the hallways. I had only gotten a few feet from the door when I was grabbed on the shoulder

"Sister of Dib-thing-"

I bit back a groan as I turned around, staring up into Zim- now much taller than I was, even with my own growth spurt to 5'3.

"You are surprised at the presence of Zim- are you not?" He smirked arrogantly, crossing his arms proudly as if awaiting me to bestow a medal on him.

"Surprised you got into college at all? Definitely." I turned around to walk to my next class, looking down at my schedule. Oh- so that was math class? Hm. Maybe I'd pay attention tomorrow. That was unlikely, but I'd lie to myself till then. Next class on my schedule was business. That should be easy enough.

As I took my next step, I was stopped again.

"Foolish human woman! You cannot stop Zim's plans for coming out here! Not even that Dib-stink can!"

I crossed my arms as well, glaring at him impatiently as I turned back around, glaring impatiently at the alien, "Zim, does it look like I care? Go back to your home planet or something- I'm busy."

Zim's eyes widened in shock, he leaned down closer towards me, "You know of my true identity?"

I couldn't help but give him a look that screams 'Are you serious?' and rolled my eyes again. Did he seriously think that I didn't know, that the entire time I had no idea that he was in fact an alien? Perhaps he wasn't as smart as I gave him credit for before. Deciding to attempt to engage in light conversation- Dad said it would be good for me- I resisted the urge to throttle the green alien.

"So what are you doing here Zim? This isn't exactly the best spot for world domination you know."

He grinned evilly, his 'white' eyes glowing with mischief, "Silly earthworm. I have reasons. Zim will seek council and learn wisdom from other aliens that reside here."

I gave him a skeptical look, only goading him to continue his usual monologues

"Though we Irkens have a name for it, I believe you humans call the land 'Area fifty one'. I will seek the knowledge of those come before me, and build a great plan while under the disguise of an earthen college student."

I took a deep inhale, shaking my head as Zim laughed loudly. He came here to get to Area fifty one, a place more restrained and militia protected than the white house itself? Yeah, this would be interesting for certain.

"Well have fun with that Zim. I'm off to my next class..." I stated awkwardly, walking off.

"Oh I will." Zim called, "I will be having plenty of this 'fun' Gaz. Plenty."

He was so weird.

iiiii

I watched her walk away, feeling very odd about my talking with the human. I was indeed surprised to see her there; I hadn't expected to see any trace of my former residential area out here, however I was instantly suspicious that somehow that Dib was sending her out here to spy on me.

She was wise enough to see past my clever disguise than? No doubt Dib-thing had ratted me out to her- luckily however, she didn't seem to mind my presence as much as her STUPID brother, and didn't seem to care about my doings at all.

That struck a nerve with me in one way or another.

Not caring about the great doings and plans of the almighty Zim? Foolishness! She was a human and I an Irken. As annoying as her brother had been, at least he had been able to appreciate the advanced being that I was, Gaz however had yet to pay her respects to me. Ever.

I would see to it that the foolish mortal was aware of my every plan and doing- seeing each moment of prosperity and triumph that an Irken Invader was known for! If she couldn't see where we were superior, I would show her through example.

That in mind, I gave myself a firm nod, turning towards the direction of my next class with growing dread. These stupid earthen teaching houses- I would see them all burned. As I moved, a strong looking earth male approached me, staring at me as I moved down the hall.

"Hey man-" he spoke to me calmly, obviously having no idea of the great power he was toying with.

"What do you want with ZIM?" I hissed, glaring at him in suspicion. No one would fool this invader.

"Chill man- I just want to talk..."

"LIES!" I hissed, waiting the moment off before shrugging, "Sure, what do you want to 'talk' about?"

"Just that girl- Gaz right? Man she is HOTT. Are you two a thing?"

I stared at the earth human in confusion. Was he referring to the strange rituals that was often displayed by members of the opposite sex in their school hallways? He must have been. I smirked, amazed at how quickly I could deduct the meaning of his words even though I still didn't understand all these human terms, even after all the years I had been there observing human behavior.

"No strange earth boy- Zim has no 'Thing' with the earth girl Gaz."

The child seemed to be excited by my words, a look that I would make if I just came up with a genius plan spreading across his face, "Sweet man, can you give me her number? She seems pretty wild- bet I can break her, if ya know what I mean." The boy winked at me, which only confused me.

No I did not know what he meant, however I wasn't going to tell him that. Her number? He must have wanted the address to her apartment.

"Sure sure, C7. Now be gone cursed HUMAN, Zim has many important duties to attend to!" And with that, I walked off, feeling grateful I could help the man in his struggles with Gaz.

I couldn't help but wonder what he wanted with her. He said she was hot, though he was clearly mistaken. I was just by her, and she was clearly in good health. He must have thought I would be responsible for her health, but Gaz does not share that bond with me like the disgusting humans in the hallways do. Poor child must have wanted to give her medical supplies to heal her fragile body, thus needing her 'number', after finding out that I would be delivering no medicinal devices for her.

Sad sad human indeed.

I headed towards the base, which I placed a few blocks off campus in a quiet sub division. It wasn't as great for various tools that the city had to offer; however, at least this new place was quiet. I walked into the yard, opening the door to the house.

"Did you bring home tacos?" Gir squeaked the instant I closed the door, jumping on top of my shoulder as I made my way to the kitchen.

"No Gir- no tacos."

"Aww...I miss tacos"

"Indeed."

I made my way down into the lab, pulling up a giant map of Area fifty one, "Computer, set a course to infiltrate the base of that area. I need to get as much information as possible if I will ever hold victory against the earth. Find a date, time, and best path to take to get into and past the security system."

"Wouldn't you rather just take a megadoomer and smash a couple housing areas?"

"No computer- enough games. This Irken Invader wishes to fulfill his quota and be done with it. No more games. Computer, start searching."

"Yes Master."

iiiii

I brushed out my hair in front of the mirror, developing a washing/drying method that made my hair easier to work with in this dreaded heat. In a odd way, a way that felt sinful to me, I liked my hair. I loved it actually. I loved it silkiness and softness. I didn't portray myself as the typical girl because I didn't want people to see me as just a thing to have...but there was a small part of me that was still feminine, so small areas of my life would still be impacted by the inevitable reality.

I had finally adjusted to dorm life, mainly because Dad did finish that invention that I told him he should. I now had groceries delivered- AND put away- once a week whether I was in my apartment or not. Though I wasn't used to cooking, I was slowly learning a few tricks of the trade by watching a few cooking shows when I wasn't studying or playing video games.

College wasn't actually that bad- in fact I sort of liked it. The freedom of having my own place high about everyone else made me feel great, and Zim was as funny as ever, randomly deciding to brag about some new update for his pet dog, or some form of information he found out. I suspected he really needed someone to brag to, and considering the fact that Zim was one of the only people who talked to me, it was nice when he did.

Not that I got ignored; I got plenty of attention. Just not the type I was looking for.

Zim wasn't the only one who had grown up during high school. I soon grew taller, and gained a figure guys seemed to chase after.

My dark hair contrasted my pale skin, and ever since high school, I had always had issues with guys chasing after me. Unfortunate because I, for one didn't want boys watching me like that, and the girls who did, usually had a few more extra curves than they were supposed to. I didn't dress like a piece of candy though- boys would be boys. The only thing I did keep up with on the 'cosmetics' side, was mascara and my hair. How people saw me was not my problem.

Aside from the random guys hitting on me randomly, I found college to be fun none the less. The first quarter had already gone by, and this morning Zim was rather excited apparently, having been waiting on my desk just to inform me of his latest plan 'not even Dib-thing can stop him from accomplishing'.

Tonight he was finally breaking into Area fifty one to ask his 'brothers' for hints and advice he may not know about the planet. It was almost cute to watch him struggle to fit and try new ways to take over earth, but if he kept going about it like this, he very likely might one day.

I doubted it however, not with Dib at large.

I brushed my teeth, moving Zim out from my thoughts as I rinsed my toothbrush, turning off the bathroom light and heading to my bedroom.

It was almost midnight and I had to get some sleep for my math test tomorrow. Thank god I actually started paying attention and doing the homework for that class; I would have failed for sure. I changed into my small night shorts and black silk cammie, burrowing into bed and clapping the lights off. Incredibly, I fell asleep almost instantly.

I'm not sure for how long I had been asleep, but I jolted out of bed when a noise so loud woke me up, and rattled the walls for that matter. "What the f-" I had to stop myself from cursing and stepped out of my bedroom to investigate whatever the racquet was.

At first I couldn't see much. Because we were far from city, night out here was pitch back, so my apartment might as well have been a cave at the moment. Feeling around the walls, I finally found the light switch and turned it on. What I saw literally made me scream, but before the sound could even come out, there was a metal like claw around my mouth.

"Shut your noise tube foolish girl!"

Zim was crumpled on the ground, a strange darker colored substance staining his white t, the door kicked in.

I moved the metal down from my face, finding myself running over to Zim. I couldn't describe it, but I knew something was wrong. His breathing was erratic, he looked whiter than he did green, and he had yet to give himself some formal announcement about how awesome he was. Something was horribly wrong.

"Zim what's wrong?" I asked, amazed at how panicked I felt. It was as if I cared about him.

Well of course I did right? I had grown up with the guy. That was only logical, even if the idea was a bit on the foreign side for me.

I knelled down beside him, looking at the strange stain, a nauseating feeling churning in my stomach, "Zim is that blo-" I paused, unable to bring the word out of my mouth. I was hemophobic as it was, and this was not only blood, but alien blood, and now that I was closer and the light was on, I could see he was covered in it.

"Yes Gaz …" he whispered weakly, "I came here for your medical supplies that boy delivered to you. I assume you didn't use them, so I thought I would come here to get them. I'll just grab them and be on my way ..."

I had no idea what he was talking about, but it did seem clear he wanted a first aid kit. I gave a short nod, getting onto my feet and grabbing the box underneath the sink with all the supplies in it. When I headed back out from the bathroom, Zim was trying to stand up. After a failed attempt and falling back down almost instantly due to his shaking limbs, metal spider legs shot out from his PAK and attempted to lift him off the ground.

I was instantly angry at Zim- he was trying to stand up again! He was clearly in no condition to be moving around like that. At first it appeared as if it might work and he would be on his way, however he quickly collapsed to the ground.

"Dammit Zim! Stop it!" I hissed, finding tears at my eyes. "Let me help you."

"Zim is in no need of your help pathetic, gah-" he winced suddenly, a new spurt of the dark maroon substance making the stained circle even larger across his chest.

"Oh god- Zim!" I was instantly at his side, helping him up and walking him towards the kitchen table. It was awkward because of our height differences, and plus he was fairly heavy, not being able to support much of his body weight. He sat on top of the table, eyes focusing in and out as he panted harshly.

"Zim what happened?" I demanded, finding my tone angered once again. Zim was clearly not himself, because he answered me flat out with no rebellion.

"Area fifty one. As I was leaving, I was shot at. I thought I missed all their bullets..."

I couldn't help but wonder the inevitable question, and forced myself to ask it, "Are you going to...you know..."

He gave a weak laugh, some of his old personality creeping in even at this stage, "Ha! It takes much more than a puny human metal scrap to take out this Invader." He paused, wincing slightly as he shifted his weight uncomfortable, "Though I am amazed at how painful they rigged the metal to be. Zim is finding this to be most unpleasant Gaz-human."

Not even sure where the determination came from, I found my hands on his waist, instantly death gripped by Zim's, "What are you doing earthling?" His eyes were narrowed in mistrust, but I was determined and would not be backing down. I didn't trust Zim to take care of himself like he should; for all I knew he'd make it down one flight of stairs if that, and bleed to death.

I was not going to allow that.

"Helping you." I responded firmly, slowly grabbing the hem of his T-shirt and raising it carefully off of him, certain to not upset the wound further as I laid the ruined shirt beside him. "Now be careful, I don't want you hurting yourself," I mumbled, trying not to think about the blood.

Zim stayed silent, giving a hiss of pain as I began inspecting the punctured skin, though other than that seemed to remain quiet and resolved. I continued looking at the wound, pressing against his chest as I tried to gather more information about the abrasion. It was difficult to see anything at all with so much blood darkening the opened skin.

Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I grabbed a paper towel, dampening it with water and carefully returning to the pained alien. "Zim, you're really not going to like this, but please hold still."

Zim nodded in submission, focusing off into some space on the wall. I carefully began washing off the surrounding blood by the wound, feeling bad once the smoke began to rise into the air. Zim's entire body seemed to tense from the pain I imagined he was feeling from the water, however said nothing and continued to sit perfectly still.

I was amazed at how warm Zim was. His race must have had a higher body temperature than humans did; it felt as though his entire body had a fever. Though I knew that wasn't the case, it was such an odd sensation. His skin was tougher than a human's, firm and solid like leather, yet soft to the touch regardless of it's armor like qualities. Come to think of it, Zim had gained quite the amount of muscle under that tough skin. Not a scary amount per say, but he had defined abs, firm chest and-

Focus Gaz. Focus

I forcibly cleared my head of my girlish analysis of Zim's body. I should be ashamed of myself- and I was. I had no right to think of Zim like that. He was an alien for Christ's sake! Not only that, but he was bleeding on my table- not doing some perverted dance. I needed to concentrate on the task at hand.

I continued cleaning off the blood from him, finally being able to get a better picture of what I needed to do. There was no exit wound, meaning the bullet was still inside him. I had no way of telling if it hit any vital organs, but based off the fact he had stopped bleeding so much, and the fact he was still alive, I deemed it safe to assume that his internal organs were ok. I could feel my stomach churn uneasily, still not able to get over being around, and working with so much blood. I had to help him though.

"Zim, the bullet is still inside your body. I'm going to take it out alright?"

Zim looked up at me questioningly, however after a moment nodded slowly. His face flushed slightly which alarmed me on a small level. He really wasn't doing well. I would make him stay over here in the spare bedroom/closet. Not that I liked the idea of Zim being over in my personal apartment, but there was no way I was letting him out of my sight in such bad condition, especially after all the effort I had put into helping him.

A small part of me was wondering why I was even going through such efforts to begin with, however, I dismissed those thoughts as quickly as they had appeared. I wasn't ready to answer myself yet. For now I would just live in the moment and make sure Zim was ok.

iiiii

I allowed the earth girl to tend my wounds, something I shouldn't have done.

When I first got hit by the metal, I didn't think much of it, until it felt as though my body was on fire and falling apart at once. I was bleeding quickly, and I needed to fix that problem in an equally prompt manner. My first thought was human medical supplies. I had no clue where to get any in this place, however I remember that boy asking about Gaz.

She was never sick, so she would still have her medicine kit. I would go to her house, grab it, and take care of the wound. I did get to ask what I needed while I was there, so my mission was a success; I would just have to heal up before putting my new knowledge to use.

That had been the plan at least, until Gaz broke out of her bedroom cell. Unlike a human, darkness was no hindrance to me, and what I saw, I couldn't quit staring. Never before had I seen a human so...exposed as her. Never had I been so...intrigued before.

She had on very short- very short pants, and a shirt that merely had strings for the shoulders. Her skin- the pale almost light pink color of humans- seemed to glow in the moonlight, and I was captured by how alluring she was. It was like she was hypnotizing me...I couldn't seem to get enough.

Humans seemed to have a similar anatomy to Irkens and I found myself wanting to explore just how far those similarities went. In a moment, I saw her beneath me, panting, calling my name, sliding down those strange pants and-

The light turned on, and the lack of color in Gaz's face went even paler when she saw me. She started to scream but I willed my PAK to repress her alarm. There was no need to wake up more of the humans. I quickly regretted my decision to waste energy on that, my PAK showing signs that I had little energy left to use for myself, let alone accessory movement the technology provided.

I explained as quickly as I could why I was there, and after receiving the box decided to get out. I don't know what had made me so intrigued in the girl's anatomy, however, I didn't want to stick around to find out the whys behind my sudden interest.

Next thing I knew, I was on the table, and she was close...so blessedly close, hands on my chest, skin so soft and vulnerable it was like she were glass and not a human at all. I knew she was using water- it burned like the fiery bullet in my body, yet as her hands continued massaging their way across my Irken skin, I could feel my body tense in response to her soft rhythmic movements. I never wanted her to stop, and I found that I was starting to loose control of my mind's thoughts.

I said nothing, fearing of what I might say if I did speak. It was so common for Irken males to receive battle wounds, many of them joining the movement for ultimate domination in some form or another. Generally they would take care of themselves; however, the act of a female dressing an Irken's wounds was a sign of submission. A sign that she was his servant, he her master. It was often a very...pleasurable experience...to say the least. An Irken mating tradition if you will.

I knew that this tradition did not hold true for the human race though was still fighting the emotions of it regardless. My mind kept producing more imagines of her under my control, my very own Gaz servant, her strange, yet stunning earthly body mine for the exploring.

I wanted her. I wanted her so badly. To hold her...

_Touch_ her.

Gaz held up the silver object, stained with my blood, "Zim, I did it. Let me bandage your wound ok?"

I nodded slowly, loosing myself to the illusion as Gaz's words sent a spark of anticipation across my body. I knew better. I did. Somehow though, it didn't register as it should have.

She came back a moment later, wrapping a white cloth all the way around my chest. It was so hard to tell myself this meant nothing. Gaz had no clue what she was saying by tending to my wounds. She didn't know that what it meant to a human, was far from what it meant to an Irken, but I wouldn't hold it against her. She knew no better.

She left her hand resting on my shoulder, leaning down to tie the bandage, the tips of her hair cascading down across my skin. I let out a slow exhale.

She would be done soon.

"Done." She gave a weak grin, suggesting she was very weary from the event. I could already feel power restoring into my PAK- she had done a good job to say the least.

"Thank you human.." I mumbled, unable to make eye contact with her. How I wanted so much more. It was shocking how badly I wanted her. I had never had such desires or temptations before, and now that I was, it felt like I had to kill myself just to walk away from her and leave her as she was.

"Zim, if you want, you can stay over here tonight; I don't want you getting hurt anymore."

I could feel my stomach twist.

Was she trying to make this difficult on me? Keeping me over should be the last thing the human should want! It was hard enough to keep myself from…

Damn her innocence and lack of knowledge towards Irken ways!

"No, I have to get back to the base. Gir will need some tacos I am certain. Thank you again Gaz. I owe you, pathetic human."

And with that, I walked down the first flight of stairs, not having enough strength to use my PAK to get me home. I sighed, calling Gir.

"Gir, I need you to come get me. I need a bunch of sleep and rest."

iiiiii

A/N: Chapter done! So it's like 2 AM here, but whatever, this was worth writing up. I feel bad for Zim to be honest- for him it's like he is seriously getting jipped on the deal here. Not only that, but now that he is older an more mature (sort of at least) he is more in tune to the opposite sex, and poor guy gets a thing for Gaz- to him, she is the alien of course, and her strange, yet familiar human body, fascinates him in ways that he has never had before. Poor guy has good manners though, and leaves her untouched.

Gaz is also struggling a bit too of course...

But how will things progress back in college?

Next chapter up fairly soon, I intend to finish this story quickly..


	2. Cultural Diversity

_(Revised 3/27/2012)_

Hey guys! Midnight here- just kickin' back and eatin my pop tarts.

Thank you to all who reviewed and faved. I have a secret to tell you- I didn't think many people would read because Invader Zim is not hugely popular, so the original chapter 2 was simply horrible! In my mind, if no one is going to be reading it, I don't have to try that hard. I'll just write up some pointless story and get back to my other stories that I really should finish. After all I have other successful stories that I really should get back to (hides from When in Rome fans) but when I saw the comments and the favs and such, I realized that I need to try just as hard to be a good writer no matter what.

(Poses with cape with trumpets playing loudly)

Lala- anywho, I really want to say thanks, and in an odd way, you guys can thank yourselves as well because I will be taking this story more serious to make sure it is an enjoyable read like my other works are. The standard shant be dropped!

Alright alright, onto chapter 2. Random side note, isn't 'onto' such an odd looking word? Every time I read it, my mind interprets it into 'on toe.' Very odd.

iiii

"Computer!" I announced, grabbing my favored red Irken shirt, it not being stained with blood as opposed to the one I had on from last night. I pulled it off, being gentle around the throbbing flesh, Computer commenting on the bandages and gauze wrapped around the base of my chest.

"I see you got attacked by the humans, though it looks like you cleaned up nicely; neat and clean, not like your usual medic skills."

Without even thinking, perhaps over bitterness about the event, I scoffed, "I didn't do it. The earth girl human did."

"OOOoooohhh. Well that explains why you returned so late in the night then."

I threw on my red shirt, shaking my head with frustration as if speaking more to myself than Computer, "No, it wasn't like that. Earth doesn't have such ways that Irk does. To her it meant little to nothing I'm sure. She was just trying to be helpful, not be my personal slave."

In the end, even though I knew she didn't see it like that, a part of me was still so hopeful, having been grown up in a planet where that just how things were. The entire event was fairly... disappointing. I cleared my head of the awkward topic, feeling as though I had spent enough time as it was dwelling on the issue, not to mention that it wasn't just ANY girl. It was one of the few girls I knew... in fact...the only one. It felt forbidden for me to think of Gaz in such manners.

I needed to simply forget it ever happened, and allow things to return to normal.

"Computer take this chip. It has everything I learned from the cursed Area fifty one. Organize it, cross reference it, graph it, anything. I need to head off towards 'college' so when I get back it needs to be ready for studying."

I left the base, finding my head instantly getting back to Gaz, much to my dismay. Sure, she was interesting and much different than the other mortal humans around, but she was still a human.

I internally groaned. Mission Zim. The mission. I had been on this disgusting planet for far too long; other invaders might start to think that the Almighty Zim had lost his touch. Perhaps it would be time to pay Irk a visit; get more technology and weaponry, make the final blow and call the mission a success- leaving the planet behind in a pile of smoke.

Forget about the girl- forget about last night. I had made a great leap forward with my new information, and I was certain the Tallest would be pleased. Until then, I had to keep up with my normal appearance, meaning attending class.

I went into first period math, trying hard not to laugh at the human's pathetic numbering systems. It was no wonder their technology was still so primal! Most of their classes of things they taught these students were things that were programmed into me at birth. Such a sad, sad life indeed. It would be a grand thing for everyone when earth was taken over by the Irken Armada, then perhaps there would be a better end for this rock than the fate of whatever the humans were going to do with it.

Based off from Dib-stink's reaction about aliens and how everyone else reacted to him, this planet didn't even think there were other life forms out there! It was as though they thought they were so important that there simply COULDN'T be any other life- not when they were obviously so powerful and 'intelligent'

Ha! Rubbish!

"Zim, what was your answer for question twenty eight?"

I looked up at the teacher, glaring in suspicion, "Question? I did not agree to answer your questions!"

"The homework Zim. Zim, where is your homework?" The teacher looked down on me with an annoyed expression across her face, clearly expecting an answer.

"My dog ate it." Stupid Gir. I rarely did my homework and the first time I decide I would, Gir eats it.

"Really now?"

"Yup. He thought it was a taco," I responded off handedly. Now that I thought about it, it sounded like a wiring problem. I would have to check that out when I got back to the base.

Regardless my explanation of my missing homework, the teacher seemed displeased by my honesty and opened the classroom door, "Zim, I am going to ask you to leave the classroom until you reach a place where you take education more seriously. I don't want you getting confused by today's lesson when you clearly didn't understand the first, and on a more realistic note, you should be more responsible than to blame your dog. Or at least a bit more creative."

I stood up with a shrug, walking out. It wasn't my fault Gir was a crazy robot that mistook everything for human junk food. Besides that, I couldn't care less if she wanted me to leave or not to better appreciate this joke of an education system. As if there was a numerical system that I couldn't understand.

At least it would get me away from all these humans for the next thirty minutes.

iiii

I watched Zim walk out, coughing to hide my laughter. Zim was being honest; I knew because I had run into his crazy 'dog' from time to time, however, Zim wasn't aware that his excuse happened to be the oldest lie in the book of 'why I didn't bring my homework'.

I watched him walk out of the room, searching for any signs of discomfort or lingering pain from yesterday's late night adventure. He seemed pretty sure in his stride, though I was still concerned nonetheless. He was so quiet last night, not saying anything about his findings or bragging about how amazing he was. All in all, it was pretty impressive that he had gotten into Area fifty one, and then also got back out at all. Him being an alien, I'm sure there would have been nothing more exciting for the guards than to see one break in.

Walking away with just one bullet wound was not too shabby at all. The area was so restricted that even with my own knowledge and resources, I would never be able to pull off the same feat. The one thing he should have been bragging about...he didn't say a word.

I couldn't help but wonder just what he was planning to do with the information he had gathered from the site. It may have been just a simple scheme of organizing more information, or perhaps it was the newest link to a plan he had come up with for global destruction, but either way, the turn out would be interesting at least.

"Gaz, what did you get for question thirty three?"

Before I could stop the words from pouring out of my mouth, I found myself patching together a split second plan to get to Zim, no longer interested in today's lecture, "Gir- uh...dog ate my homework..." I mumbled, staring down at my desk in 'shame'. The teacher pointed at the door, and I grabbed my things and walked out, looking around the hallway for where Zim had went. He had seemed to be sitting down on the floor by the library, eyes closed as though trying to relax or drown out the world around him.

Moving over to him, I stood above him for a small moment, my shadow falling over him and alerting him of my presence

Zim stood up upon noticing my arrival, towering over me with an odd smirk across his face, finding my attentiveness entertaining perhaps, "Gaz human, did you not do the assigned work?"

I shrugged, allowing myself to smirk back as I retorted back conversationally, "Nope, I was up late last night. Some weakling needed help so you know-"

"Zim did NOT ask for your help- foolish child!" he shouted loudly, and I gave a small smile at that. So he was back to himself than. That was a relief.

I stared down at where the wound would have been, speaking to him through my stare, "So you're ok right?"

"ZIM is never-"

"Zim-" my eyes shot up with an almost sad look on my face, feeling some of the fear I had felt last night when I saw him in such bad condition. I didn't want the canned, 'Almighty Zim' answer, I wanted the truth. Zim was my friend, granted one of the oddest, most loud, strangest people I had ever met, but my friend. I _never_ wanted to see him like that again.

"I'm serious…" I finished in a whisper, not breaking eye contact.

He just stared down at me for the longest time, not even saying anything, simply staring with an odd look that was hard to place with Zim. It looked as though he didn't know how to respond to my words, which I suppose was only understandable if I caught him off guard. I wasn't usually so...so..weak..I guess is the right term- but I was _afraid_ last night. I had never seen anyone hurt like that before, and it felt like the responsibility fell on me to make sure he was alright. It wasn't exactly like he could go to the hospital or anything if he ever got injured. For my sanity- I _needed_ to hear a serious Zim, giving me a serious answer.

Finally, he gave a sigh, placing his hands on my shoulders slowly, keeping firm eye contact, and even then, waiting a few more moments to speak.

"...You have no reason to fret Gaz-thing. I am healing well."

We stayed like that for an even longer segment of time, and strangely, it wasn't awkward like I thought it would have been if Zim were ever touching me. With another sigh, he dropped his arms, standing idly while staring down at me, then quietly walking past me and out into the hallways without another word.

Well. That was that then.

I stayed there for a moment longer, listening to his footfalls as he moved down the hall and soon out of the building completely. Only after being certain he was gone, I gave a sigh of finality, sitting down in the hallway and beginning my missed homework assignment.

I really hated math. Not that I was bad at it, however I simply didn't care enough to excel in the subject. Though I didn't know the exact career I was headed towards, I knew that graphing pi was not something I would be using for the rest of my days, so forcing myself to get the homework done was fairly pointless to me. Regardless, I drug out my heavy textbook, tapping my pencil in frustration against the pages, staring at the odd equation that had more letters than actual numbers.

I thought this was _math_- What a joke!

I tore out a sheet of graph paper, attempting to draw the line that the equation depicted. The first letter was negative...so shouldn't the bell curve downwards? Whatever- it was a curve on a graph. It was supposed to curve right? When graphing with an irrational number than it would have it's highest and lowest...or something like that. Why did it look like a scatter point graph then?

I only partially understood because I rarely paid attention in calls. I often read my books, or watched Zim make a fool of himself. There had to be some points for attempting this stupid assignment right? Well...maybe not. It was overdue so the teacher wouldn't even give partial credit.

I really didn't feel like learning today, and seems how I got kicked out of class, I would just head home, waste my mind to my GS, and give Dad a call- Dib too while I was at it. The space apart from my older brother was great, but none the less I did miss his rants about all things ridiculous. Especially now with Zim around, it felt wrong to not hear Dib's annoying voice screeching about saving humanity or whatnot.

Deciding to go with this new plan for the remainder of my day, I closed the large text book, satisfied with my efforts, and headed back to my apartment. Upon walking up the many flights of creaking, unstable stairs and catching my breath from the blasphemous hike, I unlocked the door, stepping inside and calling Dad. I hadn't called him now in a few weeks, so he would be quite pleased to hear from me.

"Hey Dad!"

"Gaz, it's nice that you called today. How is college? Are you passing all your classes?"

"Yes Dad," I mumbled honestly, setting my book bag down on the couch and warming up a frozen dinner in the microwave. He didn't need to know I was in fact skipping all my classes at the moment, but as a college student, I had every right to. Besides that, I was not only passing my classes, I was passing them with high grades. My lowest grade was currently math (shocker) leaving my letter grade resting at a flat B. Not bad at all. I figured that if Dad was going to be pouring thousands of dollars into my education, I might as well try and take it seriously.

"That's great. Anything interesting happen lately?"

My mind flashed back to last night, obviously still being prominent on my head.

"Uh...nope. Nothing really. Just plain old Arizona" I lied, rather pleased I wasn't back at the house. Dad was horrible at telling if I was lying or not, but I simply couldn't look him in the eyes and flat out lie. Over the phone however? Piece of cake.

"How's Dib doing," I stated suavely, smoothing changing the conversation structure to a less dangerous subject, "I intend on calling him tonight, see if he's managed to make something of himself yet."

"Your crazy brother? Last I heard, he received an A on his term paper over the influences of bigfoot over the western hemisphere."

"Big Foot." I repeated with a monotone voice, "Why am I not surprised? At least I know he hasn't changed too much at least." Unlike Dad, I hadn't been keeping contact with Dib, in fact, I hadn't spoken to him since we both split ways for college. It would be nice to call up Dib again- I missed his strangeness, at least a little bit.

Dad and I continued speaking, and I somehow managed to eat my frozen meal while keeping up the conversation, until finally, we said our goodbyes and ended the phone conversation.

I gave a sigh, mentally preparing myself to dial Dib's number. This would certainly prove to be entertaining.

iiiii

"Computer"

"Organized data prepared as requested."

I nodded, crossing my arms in thought as the computer flashed the data, maps and statistics across the screen. "Very good." I responded, mind spinning with ideas over how to go about the newest information I had collected.

Most of the information I gathered was a collection of both history of the planet on a more widespread basis, as well as a general schematics of the planet and its landmasses. There were weak spots in various locations, people groups, landmarks, many things that I had never studied out when I first arrived. I should have, but I was much too caught up in various other ideas like how to defeat Dib- not how to accomplish my mission. However, now that my priorities were in check, I would find the best solution that would do Irk proud, Dib or not.

The most fascinating thing I learned of in my stay was about the earth's so called 'World Wars'. I could never fully understand the depth of these humans blatant stupidity. With all the different planets in space to claim and destroy, they wanted violence so bad they started killing themselves; what a foolish people! This didn't only happen once, but twice, not to mention all the other wars between various tribes and nationalities.

An idea began to formulate in my head, though for now, I decided to let the information simmer; not jump on it so quickly like I had always done before. It never worked in the past so being hasty wouldn't work now either. I would outsmart these humans. It wouldn't be that hard if they were so foolish they would start killing and battling themselves. If they really hated each other that much, they should just divide up and move to a new planet, not attack each other. That just seemed pointless and idiotic.

"Gir!"

"Yes Master?" Gir fell down from the ceiling, holding some squeaky toy that resembled a sea creature.

"Let's look at your wiring. I am concerned that you recognition chip might be faulty."

"I'm a beautiful princess..." Gir sang in response, twirling around in a circle.

"Um..yes yes good Gir. Now to the equipment room. I can have you eating my homework no more!"

"TACOS!"

I pulled around at the wiring, becoming more confused and frustrated than actually making any real progress, "A package of rubber bands Gir?" I asked, hoping he would agree to throw away just ONE useless item he stuffed in his head.

"NOOO! I** NEED **them! _I **NEED** them_!" He shrieked out as if in dire pain, and with a sigh I placed them beside him while he grabbed one out, watching it stretch to whatever shape he pleased, then laughing hysterically as it returned to its original form.

"Just as I thought..." I stated, finally being able to see the item recognition mechanics. It looked as though they were loose- perhaps the wiring was getting old. If that were the case, then it wasn't something I would be able to fix here on earth; I would need more supplies from Irk. It seemed more and more clear that I would have to return very soon, if only there to get more necessities and leave again.

"Alright Gir, you are free to go. We will just have to fix you up at a later time then." I stated in a finalizing voice, watching the small robot stuff all the junk back into his head, smiling widely.

"I'mma gonna get more rubber bands!" he sang as he leaped off the table, running up towards the elevator.

I shook my head, not quite understanding the small assistant, and returned to the computer, resolved that I would at least accomplish something today.

"Computer, connect me with the Tallest immediately. I must speak with them."

"Sure, I'll see what I can do." Computer responded, sounding very hesitant, but after a few moments, I could see the Tallest up on the screen, the transmission complete.

"Zim!" One stated in shock, moving closer to see if it were actually me, "We haven't heard from you in years! We thought you were dead!"

I laughed, shaking my head, "No, I am not dead my Tallest."

"You sure have gotten...tall" the other stated, also shocked so it seemed, "Meaning that you are worthy to listen to! What can we do for you?"

I grinned, thankful that I had hit some form of growth while I was at earth. Not all Irkens grew. Some only grew just a few feet, others hit around 5' even, and very few, apparently me being one of the lucky ones, grew to be even taller than that. The Tallest however, had grown to a remarkable height of 6'5, a clear sign that they were born to be natural leaders- worthy of all our respect.

"I have been much more careful over my past couple years here on Earth, watching their behavior and learning many different patterns that the humans display. I have been working on a new plan that I think will work, however I would like to travel back to Irk and seek your counsel on it."

The two looked at each other, saying nothing for a long moment to each other. "Hold on." one said, moving out of ear shot as the two talked together about my request. I really, really hoped they would say yes. Granted I could come back to Irk for general supplies whenever I wanted, however, meeting with the Tallest for weaponry and advice? That had to be done on a more formal basis; only the most trusted of Invaders would ever get that opportunity.

Finally, they returned, "We have decided to grant your request."

"YES!" I grinned, giving a small jump of enthusiasm. This was great! The Tallest were FINALLY taking me seriously! With their help and cooperation, I could have earth doomed before the end of the year!

"But only because you are tall." the other corrected, "We'll see you in exactly thirty three days Zim."

"Eh? Why thirty three...doesn't that sound...I dunno…random?"

"That's the number of therapy sessions we will have to have before we are ready for you!"

"Oh yes yes." I nodded, "I will see you in thirty three days then my Tallest. Enjoy your therapy. Zim out!"

"GIR!" I shouted loudly

"Yes master?" he called from an air vents

"Make your master some of those 'waffles'. It is time to celebrate! We will be seeing the Tallest very soon!"

"Whoo-hooo! I loves waffles!" Gir called, and I could instantly hear things shattering on the upward level of the base.

I couldn't believe it. I would soon be out of this stupid place, speaking in person with the Tallest, and coming back with more military supplies and a plan that would easily destroy the earth if I were lucky. No doubt the Tallest would grant my request when they heard about how the planet was so easy to attack itself. It was so ridiculously easy. All I had to do was set the main powers of the planet against each other- keep fueling the fire- and watch the earth people destroy themselves one after another. After they were weak, I would be free to attack with no disruptions, and the earth would be mine.

The Tallest would be greatly pleased.

My mind hit a key point; placing a halt on all other thoughts. I hadn't told Gaz.

I swore to myself I would make sure the human know everything- that way she would respect methods of Irken Invasion and fear them like her brother did. She would be amazed when she heard I had counsel with the Tallest. Not even her lack of care would keep her from bowing down in wonder at the almighty power of Zim.

It was settled then.

I would celebrate by partaking in these 'waffle' things with Gir, then head out to gain the respect of Gaz.

I sighed, rubbing my fingers against my palms as I thought over Gaz today. When she looked up at me with that look, I had wanted to comfort her. Something inside told me that I _needed _to comfort her. I was never the best at helping anyone in that manner; I was an Invader, not a smeet caretaker. Even still though, she looked as if she were going to start crying again, on behalf of me of all things. A small part of me knew I wasn't going to see her to brag- I was going over there to see her. Just to see her because...I wanted to.

I shook the thought from my head, arguing with myself as I entered the elevator. That wasn't true. The Tallest were accepting me, this was a joyous day! I wanted her to know because I demanded respect from the puny humans! It had nothing to do with the strange bond I felt since her caretaking of my wound. I was simply celebrating and that was all! I would eat the waffles, most likely regurgitate them all, and soon be headed towards Gaz's dwelling place. I would enter, tell her, leave and be done with it. Maybe remind her at school the next day as well- in case she forgot. No harm in that, right?

I nodded to myself. Yes. That was all there was to it. Nothing more.

I left the elevator, feeling confident in my justification, moving to the kitchen table. To my horror, it was stacked with various plates of waffles, "Gir- all these waffles? I can't eat all these waffles!"

Ignoring my statement, Gir popped out from the fridge, carrying a container of brown sticky liquid, "And I gots the syrup!" he sang, opening the lid right off and dumping the entire bottle's contents on one of the waffles stack, dripping down most unpleasantly. I had to bite back a gag. Why did I think waffles were a great way to celebrate? At this point it looked more like a punishment than joyous thing.

I grabbed one of the hundreds, forcing it down my throat as the sweetness of the sticky syrup burned down my throatlike acid. This disgusting human food! How were these people so fat from eating so much? If I were a human, I would allow myself to starve to a twig! Even Gaz would eat that revolting pizza stuff. When I went to Irk, I would try to remember to bring home normal Irken food, spare myself of this junk they claimed was edible. I swallowed the half bread, half dough mass, willing it to stay down in my stomach and not shoot back out of my mouth.

One down, only seven towering plates to go.

After many hours, and many buckets later, I handed the last plate to Gir, "No more Gir! I have devoured these waffles, and am now off to do more...important things." I finished slowly, trying to find the right word to label the situation.

Gir stopped licking the plates, looking up at me, "Where's ya goin?" he asked, returning to the plate. I shrugged, "To the human girls house. She must know of my power. She must!" I yelled, hoping to make my point clear.

"Oooo the pretty one with the purple hair?" he asked, opening his head and stuffing the remaining waffles inside. "She seems nice! Why's you goin there so late? Wouldn't she be asleeping?" he squeaked, now grabbing the plate and trying to push it into his head, however the plate was larger and didn't comply. Setting the plate down after a moment, the small robot grabbed a fork, smiling at how shiny it was, and settled for it instead.

"Don't question your master!" I hissed, turning around quickly and walking out the door before he could get out another word. Though it was true- it was late outside for the humans. Perhaps Gaz would be sleeping, or studying now that I thought about it. In the back of my mind I was aware we had a test tomorrow, and all things considered, Gaz didn't seem to be doing well in the class. The human education system was so weird, and I didn't feel bad that I had missed the rest of the day. If all things went well, I would be missing a lot more of class in the near future. I would have much more important manners to attend to.

I walked down the path, pleased at how peaceful it was out here than compared to my last location in the city. I could very easily walk around undisguised at night, even on the campus if I wanted to. At night, very few people, if any were awake, and it made it easier to relax now that I didn't have such nosy neighbors like that Dib. Though that was an obvious perk to my new location, a more difficult set back was the fact that it was harder to sustain myself out here. I was more difficult to gather information, and there weren't many places that I could go to if I needed anything. Being an invader however, I was trained to handle such situations, and wouldn't allow the challenge to compromise the mission.

I soon found my way at the apartment building, staring all the way up at Gaz'z dwelling. It was so strange she chose to live so high off the ground. Not that it would affect such a great invader like myself, but her being less powerful, would have to climb the stairs each and every time she wanted to get in and out of college. Oh well, it was her choice and not mine.

Full power in my pack again, I scaled the walls, careful not to make any noise that would alarm any of the humans. I jumped onto the balcony, walking towards the glass pane doors to her apartment. I had been planning on going around the corner to the stairwell, but there was a door right here from her balcony, and with luck, I wouldn't have to break in. I grabbed the handles, pulling it towards the direction that would be needed to open the door, frowning when it didn't budge.

I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised by the fact it was locked. Gaz was always one that would keep her things secure and safe,it would be strange for her to not lock her doors whether she was there or otherwise. As I began thinking about the best way to get inside, I noticed movement from inside.

I froze slightly, not sure of what I should do. Should I stand here and wait for her to let me in? No, there weren't any lights on inside and it was well into the night, I was all but certain she was sleeping. I moved closer to the door, peering on the inside. I understood where the movement was coming from- Gaz, for whatever reasoning, was asleep on the couch, stirring slightly.

She looked so peaceful. Much better than the uncertain look she was staring me down with this morning. I still couldn't get my mind wrapped around how scared she looked. It was like her entire existence at that moment was hanging on my answer. All over again, it made me feel so powerful and possessive of her; made me feel like I had to prove myself to her, own her.

When she had asked that, if I was ok or not, that dark side of me wanted nothing more than to _show_ her just how good I was doing, in the hall, in the classroom, I didn't care, I just wanted her in anyway I could have her. Instead, I gave a sigh, forcing myself to contain my desires once more. I answered her question, and before I did any thing else, walked away and went back to my base. My emotions were still running strong so it seemed, and I needed to allow myself time to forget the happening.

Even as I thought that however, I was standing outside of her apartment, watching her. I don't know how long I stood there, just watching her sleep. I don't even know what kept me there. I just had to be there. I couldn't stop myself from watching the mesmerizing human. Everything about her fascinated me now that I had taken time to notice her for once. From what I could gather, she fell asleep studying, her head resting across the familiar text book as a pillow, papers scattered across the floor. She would randomly move her hair, or adjust her blanket before laying perfectly still, only to move again an hour or so later. It was a wonder she didn't fall off her couch at all.

I didn't ever want to leave, however when her alarm clock went off, I knew I would have to before she saw me staring at her through her door. I wasn't quite sure what I would tell her if she asked why, so it was better to simply not be asked at all.

I made my way down the walls again, being even more careful than I was before to not disturb anyone else that might be waking up for the day. I wasn't sure who would, or wouldn't be awake, so I made as little noise as possible, gracefully hitting the ground and walking back home.

My mind continued to split itself- half of it was still stuck there at the window, still watching her, while the other half was getting aggravated at my strange behaviors.

...What was she doing to me?

iiii

A/N: Hey guys! So this is chapter two- MUCH better than the original crap I had written up, though even that had it's good moments. Maybe I'll salvage a few later on it the story for you all. I personally liked this chapter- especially when Zim is talking about war. Not that I am a huge 'make love not war' person, but to an Alien, I have to wonder how foolish it would sound for people to fight against...people. I tried to capture that moment as best as I could- I think I pulled it off.

Also, more good news for you to know revolving around the fact that I didn't really care much about this story at first- this story had no plot. It would have been awful. I now however have sat down and drawn out a plot scetch- and let me tell you- it will be fun. I just can't get over the fact that this story...has become a real story in my head. It wasn't at first, it was just a one, maybe two shot of whatever my mind wanted to produce, and that would be that.

However, your guys' support was just incredible! I am so thankful for the feedback, favs, and everything else I have been getting from you guys. I really hope to see that continue, especially now that I am going the extra mile to actually make this something enjoyable for my dear readers, but obviously, it all falls down to your choice.

Anywho- thank you all a million times- if you have questions about the story, where it's progressing- general...I don't know...just questions...you can mail them to me, or just state them in your review and I will either answer them in an A/N in my next chapter, or simply mail them to you.

See you all around chapter 3!


	3. Tutor for Hire

_(Revised 3/27/2012)_

Hello dear readers!

Midnight here!

So, I wish that I had an online fanfiction diary that all of my fans were forced to read, because then you would understand a recap of me and pregnancy. For whatever reason, I don't know why, I get a kick out of claiming 'I am expecting…' You know, something along those lines (I really have nothing better to do you see) and the funny thing is, I HATE babies. Can't stand them. Never had kids, and I hope I never do.

So karma decided to kick me square in the pants because, unlike before where I was kidding, I am expecting- not me personally though. (Thank Gandhi cause I would cry) My sister is 3 months along, and is all, hey Kali- you're going to be an aunt. Great. Just flippin great.

But on a lighter note- chapter 3 is up. Love the support guys- it makes me joyous even in this time of utter crisis in my life!

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"What the- an F?" I shrieked loudly, holding my paper closer as if the letter grade might change if the paper were seen from a different angle, "This is ridiculous!"

"I agree. You haven't done any of this chapter's homework and you still expected to pass the test. Ridiculous indeed." The teacher retorted with a snort, handing out the remainder of the tests.

I rolled my eyes, a couple of colorful words simply itching to be released from my tongue, but all in all I kept my composure. I hated this class so much. The only thing good about math class was listening to Zim attempting to fit in with the other classmates. Back in high school I had done fine in math, even this class hadn't been that difficult to follow until we hit this stupid chapter where you had to graph pi with like twenty different equations. Half of my problem was the fact that I didn't have the motivation to follow along in class, but the other half was that even when I did, I still didn't understand it.

Why did I even need to know this; it was all the biggest waste of time I had ever heard of! Each homework section was around thirty questions, each problem taking about five minutes each, meaning each night I had three hours of homework in just this class alone. It was no wonder half the class had stopped doing the assigned work; nobody had that much time to burn with college quickly approaching mid-terms, assigned or not.

"And Zim is the only student to receive 100% on the test, regardless the fact he hasn't done any homework either. You should all be ashamed." The teacher bellowed, sitting back down in the desk at the front of the room in a finalizing manner, leaving the class to wallow in misery of their poor test scores. At least I knew I wasn't the only one struggling.

My eyes snaked over to Zim, who was staring into the wall with a bored expression on his face as though he were simply waiting for time to pass so he could get back to doing whatever it was he did all day in his base. Not that I had ever had a class with him before, but from what I could tell, this class really _did_ bore him.

A week had passed by since Zim's breaking into my apartment, and in that time I found I rarely spoke to him any more, or at least much less than those few days had lead us to. It seemed as though things were finally returning back to how it was in the first quarter of the semester; I would see him in math, laugh at the interactions that often lead to the teacher reprimanding him, and then headed off to my next class without any further engagements.

I replaced my attention back onto the desk, sighing at the test score. It wasn't just an F, it was a 23%. If there were such a thing as a lower letter grade, all the way down to Z, I would have gotten it, or perhaps even lower with a percentile like that. I would have to call Dad; see if there were any advice he could give me to help get this section down a bit better. I knew that I wouldn't be able to slack off and ignore the teacher like I had been before- the next chapter was just an extension of this one, so if I didn't backtrack and make myself understand it a bit better, I'd fail the next chapter as well.

I waited for class to end, moving on throughout the day still stuck on my math grade. I couldn't fail the class, not when I needed to pass this one to move onto the more advanced classes Dad was expecting me to take. Not only that, but I knew how disappointed Dad would be. He expected me to be really good in school, and honestly, I was, but when it came down to natural intelligence, Dib outshined me with ease. Unfortunately for Dib, Dad never really cared to acknowledge much of his accomplishments.

"Gaz, I asked you a question." The teacher stated, catching my drifting attention back onto the class.

Biology- right. I was finally in my last class of the day, Biology.

"Sorry Mrs. Butler- um what was the question? I was thinking about my math class."

"Ms. Membrane, let me remind you that this class is Biology, and not math, however the two do correlate hand in hand, so hopefully, all your thoughts towards the subject were positive ones, right?"

"So positive they were almost negative." I repeated with little sarcasm, trying to decide if I meant the answer or not. Two positives would always be positive, while two negatives when multiplied together would be positive. In the case of a negative and positive on the times table…

I sighed, forcing the 'math' section of my mind to close.

"Excellent. Now who was the first person to ever structure what DNA looked like Gaz? It wasn't in the homework, but luck favors the well prepared. Did everyone read the upcoming chapter I assigned to preview? It _was_ in there."

"Um…Gregor Mendel..?" That was a common science biology name I heard- worth a shot I suppose.

"No, Mendel was the father of human genetics. But don't feel bad about it, it was a trick question anyways," she laughed at yet another joke that only a teacher would find humorous, as though expecting us to find it comical as well, "There wasn't one but _two_ worthy scientists in this first DNA model. Francis Crick and James Watson! I just crack myself up sometimes."

She continued on with the lesson, and I once again drowned out her words in a sea of thoughts, this particular series of thoughts revolving around a new game I was itching to play. Dad had it dropped off with my last food supply as a reward for my good grades.

Good thing he didn't know about my latest test grade, and I was starting to feel guiltier by the second. I could on one hand count the number of tests I had failed, so even though I knew it wasn't a devastating failure, I still felt terrible. I really should have put in more effort…but what could I do now?

Walking up the last flight of stairs, I continued listening to Dad express his concern towards my grade, "Yeah Dad I know" I mumbled in frustration, slamming the door shut to release some of my tension. I had felt terrible enough as it was, but now Dad was making it even worse.

"This just isn't like you Gaz- in all my days, I would have never imagined you would ever fail at anything."

"It's not like I failed the entire class Dad- just one test! I didn't call to get a huge lecture, I called for advice."

There was a long pause as Dad considered the options, and finally he spoke up.

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"Look Gaz it's so simple. Imagine pi in correlation to an alien in space. If he turns north there is always a possibility that-"

I hung up the phone, redialing Dad's number.

"Hello?"

"Yeah the whole Dib explain it thing? No. Stinkin. Way. I can't listen to him compare aliens to math…that's even more confusing." I hissed, offended that Dad's solution to help wasn't the best.

"Alright dear, no need to shout. Hmm. Who else do you know that seems to understand the subject?"

Iiiii

"INTRUDER!"

"Hi Gir." I sighed, moving past the robot and into Zim's house.

"HI!" he shrieked, closing the door and running past me while screaming something about monkeys.

Such a strange robot…

I looked around, standing idly for a moment in the living room. Zim's place was so weird, exactly like Zim in fact. The place was covered with odd posters like, "I love earth" or "I eat food", and though everything was 'normal', it was all wrong.

"Gir?"

"Yeeesss?" he peered around the corner with one blue eye, staring at me for instruction.

"Hey, I'm trying to find Zim. Do you know where he is?" I asked punctually, hoping that Gir wouldn't go all 'Intruder' mode again.

Gir gave a gasp, then screamed hysterically, "Is you mad cause master was spying on you? Don't be mad!"

"No Gir I just want- wait." I knelled down by Gir, trying not to glare, "Zim was spying on me? When?"I didn't remember seeing Zim lingering around anywhere; in fact this past week had seemed nothing if not normal. Granted Zim had been skipping a few days of class, but that wasn't that uncommon. Why had he been spying on me?

Gir smiled, skipping to the toilet…in the kitchen? Zim…you are stupid.

"He's in here!" Gir pointed, clearly pointing down into the toilet bowl.

I felt my stomach wrench slightly as I looked towards that familiar object. "Uh…seriously?" I forced myself to move towards the strangely disturbing porcelain, leaning down over the bowl apprehensively.

"Gir, this is not Zim. I am looking for- AHH!" I shrieked as Gir pushed me down into the device before I could had the change stand back up properly.

Next thing I knew, I was being moved down some tube device…like an elevator gone Sci-Fi. Well, that was fitting I suppose.

The door opened, and I stepped down into some lab of sorts. It all reminded me of Dexter's Laboratory; that crazy short kid with an entire lab built right under his house. It all seemed so foreign to me. Each gadget around the place looked like nothing I could recognize from modern engineering- which felt odd in and of itself.

I was great with technology, better than was Dib for certain. Granted, he was a much better inventor, but as for operator- I had the skills. Yet even still, down here, everything was so strange. I remember that I had been in his base once when I was younger, and I as recall, I hadn't been impressed by the underground facility. From what I could tell, most of his equipment had been updated to some degree or another from that point. Zim had always been good at inventing things as well, so I wagered to say the updates were a direct result from the alien's efforts. A definite upgrade.

I walked around slowly, looking at each odd contraption with interest, somehow keeping myself from touching everything. I didn't want to mess with any of Zim's stuff. I would kill him if he ever touched mine, so it was only fair. Aside from that, I wasn't here to spy on what he was doing. I was here to get a tutor.

As I walked around, I heard noise, shuffling or something, and I decided that I would head that way. I couldn't be too certain that it wasn't just an electric sound or a direct result from the machinery in his lab, but it wasn't like I had any other options. Or a map.

Following the noise, I moved through the various segments of the lab, and soon found myself staring at Zim. He was hovering over some odd metal device he was welding with a blow torch, the resulting noise making it so he didn't notice my approaching him.

"Hey Zim." I waved, hoping to grab his attention casually.

"Hey Gaz." He mumbled, not even looking up from the project.

…

…Perhaps that was a bit _too_ casual..

"GAZ?" He repeated in shock, looking up finally, "Uh what…how…what are you doing in my house?" he shrieked, not so much glaring as gaping in surprise.

I shrugged, feeling slightly awkward at his question, "You've randomly busted into my place before…" I justified without making eye contact. Now that I thought about it, I really should have called first or something, but Zim only attended class off and on, and I didn't want to have to approach a stranger for help. Out of our entire class, there were very few people that were managing to keep their grade up. As for the few that did, I didn't feel comfortable talking to them as I was certain they were just as buried as I was in homework and projects. That left Zim. I knew that he could care less about his homework, so he should have enough spare time when he wasn't plotting to destroy the world.

Plus, on a practical note of approaching him for help, Zim didn't have a phone. He put his freakin' toilet in the kitchen- even if he _did_ have a phone, he wouldn't know what to do with it. I knew that the easiest method would just be to go to his house and confronting him, which meant finding his home and getting past all his 'security' systems. That wasn't that hard of a project actually. This place wasn't populated all that much, so I just went walking until I found the awkward looking house with creepy lawn gnomes. In the end, I walked a couple blocks and had to keep myself from laughing to death when I saw it. It was a wonder why no one else saw it back at school. Zim really didn't fit in truth be flat out told.

I didn't answer his question, deciding to look around the area again. Though I didn't understand what any of it was, it was still impressive that Zim was able to work with such advanced systems. I smiled slightly upon realizing that in this room, I was the stranger that had no clue what was going on, while he was the normal resident to the area. At the moment, he wasn't even disguised. I did feel slightly out of place, but I didn't allow it to bother me too much. Honestly, this place was pretty cool anyhow.

Zim gave a sigh of frustration, his red alien eyes boring into me as he set his project aside, "And just how did you get past all my security Gaz? Tell me now, human."

I had to keep myself from laughing, ruining the previous euphoric moment in my head, "Security? Pshh. Gir let me in and literally pushed me down here, if that's the security you're referring to. You really should try to bump that up Zim, it's kind of pathetic."

Zim stood up fully, silently standing over me. "Oh? And just why are you here Gaz thing? I don't recall extending an invitation," he stated after a moment, a playful tone evident in his voice. At least he didn't seem to be mad at my breaking and entering, That was a good start.

I took in a deep breath, and just as I was about to speak my reasons, I let out the breath with a sigh as realization hit me. This wasn't a normal person; this was the 'Almighty Zim' I was working with. Though I had decided strictly on him being my tutor, I forgot about the fact that I would need to _ask_ him if he would first. If I told him I needed his help, even if it was over the dumbest thing like math, it would go straight to that alien head of his. I groaned inwardly. I didn't want to ask him, but I really needed help! I hadn't paid attention for such a long time in the class I couldn't keep up anymore.

If I failed this next test, then possibly the final as well considering that I had no idea how to do two of the chapters that we would be tested over. If I failed the final, Dad would be so disappointed. Not only that but come the holidays it would be so awkward. Dad wouldn't know how to go about it, and I would feel awful.

"I uh..." I mumbled, crossing my arms in frustration, trying to force myself to admit that I was there because I needed his assistance. Damn my pride! Why was this so difficult? I was just asking for help in one stupid class. This wasn't the first time a girl needed help before, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. I took a deep breath.

"Well you see Zim, I-"

"Yeesss?"

Glaring, I placed my hands on my hips, my memory hitting me again as I adverted the issue at hand, "Hey wait a minute Zim. Gir said you were spying on me. Was he being serious?"

Zim's eyes widened to full circles, instantly sputtering and hissing out sentence fragments, finally ending with, "Zim has NO need for puny humans!"

"You were..." I mumbled, eyes narrowing to thin lines. Why was Zim spying on me? What did I ever do to him? He had no reason to spy on me! For that matter, when? He saw me everyday at class, at least when he decided to attend, so if he ever needed something, he had plenty of opportunity to confront me.

"Zim wasn-"

"Why were you spying?" I demanded, popping out a hip as I pursed my lips expressively. "If you don't tell me, I will destroy you." I finalized, not letting up on my constant eye contact.

He glared as equally hard, seeming to debate internally if he was going to tell me or not. After a while, he gave light laughter, leaning back onto a large metal column behind him, "Ah Gaz human- why should I answer your question, if you haven't yet answered my own?"

I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

"Why are you in my house liitle Gaz? Answer my question, and I will answer yours."

I groaned. It seemed fair enough, especially seeming how I would soon have to tell him anyways. At least I would get something out of my crushed pride to be.

"Alright. Fine." I took in that familiar 'here goes' breath, and let it out in a rush, "Ineedyourhelp."

"Eh? What was that?" he asked, a looked of confusion etched across his face.

"You heard me!" I hissed, feeling embarrassed at that small admittance alone. I was Gaz. I never asked anyone for help, especially not from Zim.

"Um...no actually..I didn't. You were speaking too fast."

I gaped at him, throwing my hair back behind me, staring at the floor in agony as I felt my face heat up in embarrassment. I built the nerve back up to repeat myself, biting each word out in a frustrated manner, "Fine! I. Need. Your. Help. There! I said it. I need your freakin' help Zim because I- the weak pathetic human- am obviously feeble and incapable- so therefore need your assistance because without it I will inevitably die." Though at the end I was being highly sarcastic, before me stood a very smug green alien, grinning widely.

"I knew you would soon see things for how they are Gaz. See unlike your brother," Zim moved forward, standing mere inches away from me, placing a cupped hand around my face, "You were always the one to see reason and logic." He leaned down slightly, aligning himself with me as his eyes met mine, "I will grant you your wish frail human. What are you wanting?"

I broke eye contact, feeling the blush still across my face, though I wasn't sure if it was because I was still embarrassed or if my blushing had direct correlation to the alien so close to me, "Uh…math help."

"Hm." Zim stated, cocking his head slightly, his eyes glinting dangerously as he quirked an eyebrow, "That sounds boring. You sure there isn't something else, battle plans, explosives, something more…fun?"

"No Zim. Math. I failed that last test- you didn't. Dad said I needed a tutor, and you're pretty much the only person that didn't fail the test."

"Tu-tor?" Zim laughed, backing up and shaking his head in disbelief as he continued laughing for a moment longer, "You mean to tell me you need _help_ understanding such basic math concepts? Ha! Foolish human!"

I was so used to hearing that insult, yet somehow now, it seemed to bite more than usual, probably because in this case, he was right. I really had no clue what I was doing in that class right now.

"Yeah yeah yeah Zim." I summarized, wanting to change the subject off from me and my failures, "Now your turn to hold up the agreement- why where you spying on me? And you better have a good reason or I will make every moment for you a swirling torrent of misery and pain. Mark my words alien boy."

Zim shrugged casually, turning back to his project without further delay, "I don't think I intend on answering this...question Gaz-thing."

I gaped, not even certain of how to respond. "Z...Zim that's not fair! I answered your question," I argued, moving around and grabbing the blowtorch like device before he grabbed it.

He dropped the strange contraption he had picked up, smirking at me for a moment before grabbing it back from my hands with ease, "Ah yes, but you need my help do you not? In my position, I don't see me having to answer your questions."

I clenched my fists, feeling the pure frustration run through my veins. That green little- I'd kill him! I found myself leaping into the air, tackling him to the ground and taking him by surprise.

"I'm going to rip your eyes out!" I growled as we were falling in the air, both of us hitting the ground with a loud thud. Zim gave a noise of shock upon impact, seeming to get over the initial shock of my attack quickly as he began blocking my punches.

"Gaz, you really shouldn't fight someone so over your head!" He smirked still, grabbing my hands and pushing them away from him easily, "I've been trained in combat for longer than you've been alive, you would be wise to give up."

"Not until I rip out your eyes!" I yelled back, fighting against him. I was currently sitting on top of him, dead set on ripping his eyes out of his body. With how superior he claimed to be, he would get along just_ fine_ being blind. He didn't need eyes, not with his mad skill. I continued to fight against him, not really getting anywhere, even with the help of gravity. He was certainly strong, but that meant nothing to me.

Finally, I could feel in one moment Zim letting his guard down, so I exerted even more force downward, though soon found out it was just a trap. I was forcing myself lower while Zim used my own momentum against me, easily rolling around where he was sitting on me, a smug look across his green face. He held my arms down beside me, easily out powering me.

I sat there, glaring daggers at him while he just sat on my stomach mockingly, acting as if he were bored, "Gee- at least Dib could put up a fight, you however are just a little girl. What are you possibly trying to prove?"

"Get off me- you're heavy!" I hissed, moving slightly underneath him, certain my stomach would cave in from so much weight being on it.

Zim shook his head, "Admit defeat Gaz, and not only will I tutor you, I will also remove myself from you."

"Just answer the bloody question Zim! Why were you spying on me?"

"I suppose I will just have to continue to sit on you then."

"This is not normal Zim! Come on and let me up!"

"Admit your defeat."

"No!"

"Alright," Zim responded with a shrug, looking as though he had no problem sitting there for the foreseeable future.

I gave a pressed sigh, "Fine then- you win ok? Seesh! Now let me up!"

Zim gave his trademark smirk, slowly standing up off from me. I rolled my eyes as I stood up as well, dusting off my clothes as I turned away from Zim, who had already gone back to grabbing his supplies to continue working, "Well thanks Zim, but I will be headed out now so you can just-" I spoke over my shoulder as I made my way out of the room, Zim cutting me off

"No not that-!"

And the last thing I remember was falling.

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I turned around just in time to see her walk off the edge of the coordinating system, falling down as if she had intended to from the start. I instantly jumped after her, knowing very well that I would not be in danger of receiving harm, unlike the human. I could use various solutions to get out of this falling predicament; attach to a wall, jet booster myself up, call Gir, the computer...but Gaz? The only thing on her side was gravity, ensuring that she would, like it or not, hit the ground again.

Even though I tried as quickly as I could to recover her, before I could she hit her head on one of the stairways, and I am not certain she remained conscious from that point on. I groaned, blaming Gir instantly. She shouldn't be down here, in fact she shouldn't be in my base at all, but especially not the downward levels of all the places in my base. As a human, she would have no clue what anything was, and would be likely to cause, or get herself in some accident like she just did.

Though a part of me liked her randomly appearing in my base.

I shook the thought out of my head, reaching down and grabbing Gaz, using a combination of tools from my PAK to get back up to the elevator.

Try as I may, she was still unconscious. Great.

"Elevator, take us back up to the main floor." I stated, walking in the door as I carried her along with me. She was lighter than I would have expected, and not like I thought she would be heavy to begin with either. It was alarming how fragile she was. She acted so strong, in fact, she just lunged out in mid air towards an opponent that was clearly stronger than her, but she was still so breakable. One knock to the head and she was completely out of control now, leaving her in my hands.

I groaned in annoyance, moving to the main living area and placing her on the couch. "Gir!" I called, looking down at Gaz and wondering what I should do. For my own safety, I couldn't take her to the health buildings, but I knew better than to leave her to her own devices for the moment.

"Yes mast- oohhh is she staying the night?"

"No G-"

"SLEEPOVER! I'll get the popcorn!"

"GIR!" I hissed loudly, quicker to anger than usual, "Get. Water. _Now Gir!" _I stated slowly, being precise and demanding. If Gir had just done his job to begin with, none of this would have happened. I knew it wasn't my responsibility to watch out for her, but I somehow was angered by the fact that this had happened while I was right there. I should have been more careful. Perhaps if I had been, Gaz wouldn't be in this situation at all.

I looked down at the robot, nodding as his eyes flashed red and he nodded quickly, "Yes Sir!"

Water. I hated the stuff. It was painful and acidic...but the humans were constantly using it, letting it fall feely on their bodies each morning to 'cleanse' themselves, drinking it constantly, and even traveling great distances to be in it, build floating devices for it...they even bottled the stuff for money. I wasn't positive it would work, but it seemed like a better idea than just watching her and hoping something happened.

Gaz was such an odd human. Well...better said, an odd Irken. I wasn't used to humans, even after the many years I had been on the miserable planet. Each time I was around her though, my mind seemed to get hazy with questions. What should I say? Should I do anything? I had never really thought much about Gaz until that night, and now that I had...it was like some addiction. I just wanted more. Each touch left me burning, wondering what it would be like the next time I touched her, or where in some cases. I wanted to know everything about her. Chromosome structure, genetics, what made her so soft in comparison to the people of Irk?

What made me want her so much?

"Here's a bucket of water master..." Gir mumbled, handing me a silver pail full of the cursed liquid I had grown to hate.

Water.

That was something I would not be missing when I left earth.

Forcing myself to get over the pain, I scooped a handful of it into my palm, dropping the small amount of liquid across her face before it all spilled out onto the carpet. That was another good question. What made Gaz, and other humans immune to this water? As annoying and weak as the humans were, there were still some interesting traits about them that made them stick out in my mind in comparison to the other people groups out there.

At first I thought the liquid had no effect on her, however after a moment or two, she squinted before giving a light cough or two, slowly opening her eyes.

"Nnn..Zim?" she finally asked when her vision focused on me.

"Yes Gaz human?"

"I'm going to kill you..."

iiii

Hey guys, sorry for the shortish chapter. It's not that bad though. I really like this chapter, I guess because I know what is going on in both of their heads at the same time (being the author has it's perks as you can imagine) and not only that, but I also know what happens in the chapters to come. Muahah.

I am really excited, as you guys should be too. I don't know how many chapters this story will be, but I have a pretty well developed plot in my head, so it should be a decent amount of writing before we get to the finish line. These next chapters will be really great. We will get to see much more Zim Gaz interaction because poor Gaz hates math, and needs help. Not only that, but I'm sure even at this point it's obvious Zim would jump at the opportunity to be around Gaz more in a non stalkerish setting.

This chapter was more focused on Gaz with only a bit over Zim's point of view, but it was all done strategically.

Oh, and for all you Dib lovers out there, I am not physically bringing him in this story (maybe I will, or maybe I won't. I already know the anser, but I'm not telling you!) but we will at least hear him on the phone a bit more in these next few chapters.

Meh...well I think that is everything for chapter 3. I hope to see you all around chapter 4- remember to comment. You have no idea how much I love my comments. Thank you to all who have commented by the way, each one has been read, laughed at- a few were worthy enough to where my friends heard about them in some cases (I have no life you see) and so generally, I just want to put that out there. I really am grateful for you guys. If you weren't out there, I would never get this story done..

That won't happen though, you guys are awesome!

Midnight


	4. What's the Word?

_(Revised 3/27/2012)_

Midnight- in the house and living life (if that's what getting overloaded with life in general is called)

I am quite pleased that I finally have gotten the chance to write for you guys. This story is so fun to write, but I had to work out some dates and how the plot line works with Zim's going to Irk to see the Tallest. Not only that however, college is kicking me in various areas rather unpleasant. As said, I really wish you guys knew me in person, because that would save so much explaining about my current life, family, you get it.

As for where I am in life (in the short AN version) I am an 18 year old college student, looking at about 5 more years of college in Med school. I am taking many advanced courses, and we have gone over 5 chapters in 2 weeks in my anatomy and phys. class, and I am getting my first test this Friday. I am sooo doomed! Wish me luck guys!

But enough about me- onto IZ chapter 4!

iiii

"So you are awake again?"

The voice entered my head, and though I couldn't really put many thoughts together, I knew that something was wrong. What had happened? Slowly, I could feel memory hazing back to me. That's right. I had wandered into Zim's base and walked right off a ledge. Even now, I could feel my head throbbing painfully as I recalled the event. Seriously, who has random drop offs in their own home? How stupid!

I slowly opened my eyes, though instantly closed them again as the light seemed to burn my retinas. How long was I knocked out? Years? Seconds? Hours? I had no idea, though it felt as though I had been dead and come back to life. I felt terrible.

My head held a consistent sharp throbbing as though I had been listening to Dib talk about aliens for hours.

I slowly opened my eyes again, sitting up as I rubbed my head carefully, feeling a large knot from where I had hit my head.

"Sad pathetic human..." Zim spoke, though his voice seemed hazy and far off at first, "One simple hit to the head and you are useless for hours. I thought you would never get up!"

I was so busy trying to sort out my own thoughts that I had almost missed what he said entirely. However, one word did catch my attention, even though I had managed to block out most of his words all together. Hours? Was he saying I had been just sitting here for hours, unconscious?

I slowly opened my mouth, having to truly think out each syllable to say it, "How long...have I been...here?" I was difficult to put the sentence together, but I was proud of myself when I had completed the saying. I knew that I wasn't quite mentally up to par yet; it was all as if my mind put everything in jello. Everything was slower, more confusing, and didn't really click right away.

All I could understand was that it was all Zim's fault. When I had the mental capacity to do so again, I would scalp him.

Slowly as the seconds passed by, my eyes finally adjusted to the light so I could see what was going on. I was back in Zim's living room, or whatever it was. Gir was watching TV, sprawled across the floor. Zim was perched on the edge of the couch, as though he had been watching over me the whole time. Though the idea was laughable, I couldn't help but wonder why Zim was here still, attentive or otherwise.

Zim shrugged, responding as he slid off from the couch, stretching slightly, "Quite a while. You woke up once for a few seconds, but the knowledge of all you have seen today got to your small human brain and you were overloaded once more. Pretty pathetic."

All the knowledge? Well, he was conceded as ever, though if I really was out for so long like he said, I should go to a nurse to make sure I didn't have brain damage or something. It would be just like Zim to ruin my life with his abounding stupidity, not to mention the fact that finals were right around the corner. I didn't have_ time_ for brain damage.

Decided upon the fact that I really needed to get to the nurse's office to get this all sorted out, I mentally understood the fact that I needed to get up, move my feet, and transport my body from here to the nurse's office. As simple as that sounded, the more I thought about it, the quicker I realized that my mind really wasn't ready to start moving the rest of my body yet. Keeping back a sight of frustration, I looked towards Gir who was watching some commercials about tacos.

Figures.

"Zim I need to get out of here; I have things to do." I told Zim plainly, not breaking my attention from Gir and the TV. I noticed I was able to put a sentences together again, at this progress I would be up and moving again in just a few minutes. I would just have to get my bearings and I would be off.

"Is that so?" Zim stated, catching my attention by the odd smirk you could hear in his voice.

I looked over to see Zim, now propped against the wall, arms crossed smugly as he stared down at me.

I nodded my head, making a note of each advance I could feel towards normalcy. It wasn't often that physical harm came to me, and I really didn't like the feeling of the weakness that came with it. Vulnerability wasn't something I wanted to get used to by any means, especially in an unfamiliar location like this was.

"Yes. It is so. I will be going to get my head checked out, just to make sure your stupid base floor plans didn't give my brain permanent damage." I responded, taking pride in making an even longer sentence than I had before.

"To the nurse?" Zim asked shortly, seeming as though he were leading up to some point he had in his mind.

"That's what I said."

"Two problems with that Gaz smell. For one, it's three AM Saturday morning according to your time. In this strange earth schooling place, the nurse human won't be able to see you until Monday when class starts up again. And for two…you couldn't get up if you wanted to."

My eyes narrowed at his accusation, though I was stuck on his first point. That's right- it was Friday when I came here. Had I really been out that long? Even so, the nurse wouldn't be back on campus until Monday like he had said. I wanted to groan. At this current moment I may not be able to go too far, but I was certainly strong enough to at least prove him wrong. I was strong and independent. Zim wasn't going to sit there smugly and tell me what I could, or couldn't do.

"I can too get up you stupid al-"

"Don't be ridiculous Gaz, you can't fool me with your strong talk. Your human pale skin is even paler than its usual pale paleness, and you are still so weak from your fall. Pitiful human." he finished in a slightly higher voice, mocking me as usual. That jerk, making fun of me in this state. I really would scalp him, assuming I would be able to walk over there and wield a weapon of course.

Defensive, I gave a 'hmph' and moved my hands onto the couch, standing up with ease. Maybe I was underestimating myself. I could do this. I would walk home and get some sleep, then study in the morning with or without his help. Maybe I'd call up dad and have him get someone out here to scan my head, just to make sure I was ok. Everything would go-

Wow.

The earth was really spinning fast today wasn't it? Even the house and floor started spinning.

I blinked a couple times, trying to allow the overwhelming feeling of vertigo to pass, though I quickly could feel myself loosing my balance as the entire ground seemed to swoop from one direction to the next.

"Wew...you gonna throw up! You gonna throw up!" Gir sang, clapping dramatically as he watched me sway with the floor. I wouldn't have been surprised if Gir's predictions came true in fact. My stomach felt like it was churning at mach five speed, and my sudden loss of coordination wasn't helping in the slightest.

My eyes shot to Zim, who was also watching me, though much more smug than Gir was, "Feeling alright, human?" He grinned darkly, though I was determined to hold out. No. I wouldn't sacrifice my dignity any more. I was finally awake now, there was no way I would give in and look any more weak than I already did. I was just so frustrated with him and the entire situation.

I didn't need Zim's help. I was just fine!

"Peachy" I hissed back, trying to force my mind to think around the spinning floor. If I could just set up a point of reference, it should be easier to get a better sense of balance. Much to my dismay, the longer I stood there, the more difficult everything became, not the other way around. Everything began to spin even faster, and it felt as if I were trying to stand on the ceiling.

Against my will, my knees buckled and I fell back in a heap onto the couch without grace. Zim instantly laughed loudly, and I was fuming inside. Dammit! I was just so frustrated and his laughing made everything worse.

Damn Zim and his stupid superiority complex! Damn the fact he was so stupid towards humans and just...anything normal in general! Damn his stupid base- his stupid mission...

Dammit dammit dammit!

Zim turned around after his laughter fest, walking off into the kitchen.

"Uh Zim- just what are you doing?" I demanded with a snap, glaring at him even though he was turned around and couldn't see a thing that I was doing. A small part of me wanted nothing more than to flip him off.

"None of your concern Gaz thing."

"How am I getting home?" I asked, a cold edge of bitterness in my voice.

Zim turned around at this, that damned smirk still audible in his tone, "Well, you seem to be doing so great on your own and I would hate to impede upon your progress."

I glared at him threateningly hoping that would scare him into somehow getting me home, though he didn't even seem to notice, let alone feel threatened.

Zim gave a small chuckle, crossing his arms across his chest, "So whenever you feel 'up to it' you are free to leave at any time you wish." He turned his attention to the robot, "Gir! Grab the girl human sleepy things. I don't wish to be disturbed and I believe she will be here for more night hours."

Before I could even utter another syllable, Zim was jumping down the toilet and out of sight.

Aside from everything he just said, I could put away my feelings for one second to rehash over how disturbing that was. The guy just flushed himself away. Gross.

Moving my mind back to more important notes, I groaned at the fact that my stay had clearly been extended.

Here, at Zim's house?

I mean, sure the door was open for me to leave; not like he was holding me hostage by any means, but in an odd way, he was. I was in no condition to even stand up, so the idea of walking all the way to my apartment, then up all those flights of stairs was out of the question. If I did have a concussion, I'd likely pass out on the road somewhere from over exerting my body in its current state.

I sighed. This was all so wrong. I wasn't staying the night at Zim's place like some creepy twelve year old at a birthday party. I was in college now, and things like this just didn't happen. The only cases where I could think of a girl staying over at a guy's house was _very_ different from an innocent sleep over, and just the mere thought of such a happening between Zim and I…

I sunk back further into the couch, grimacing slightly as my head pounded painfully from standing up previously. I had to get out of here.

"Here! Its got puppies on it!" Gir randomly sang, dropping a blanket and pillow set decked out in 101 Dalmatians apparel.

"I won't be needing it Gir because-"

Gir started screaming frantically, jumping across the room in agony at my refusal.

"Gir you don't understand it's just that-"

"Whhhyyyyy?"

"Gir you have to stop-"

"WHYYYHHYY?"

"You can't really-"

"WHHYYYYYY?"

"Fine!" I hissed, laying down again on the pillow as I unfolded the blanket around me. As much as I wanted to act tough, without help, it was clear that I couldn't get more than a few feet away from the couch. Besides, Zim had left this area so I was free to sort out my wandering thoughts without him staring down at me and complicating matters further.

Gir sat silently in front of the TV as if nothing had ever happened, and I couldn't help but release a small sigh again.

This was all so very frustrating. I had gotten Gir to shut up at least, but on the other side of things, I was most likely at Zim's for the night. What choice did I have though? I was in no condition to get up, and if Zim didn't take me home somehow, than I was stuck here. Sure I complained and all, but really there was nothing I could do about it. I could barely even stand without getting sick so there was no purpose in even dreaming of making it home ok.

I knew why I was so uncomfortable though, what made me want to leave so drastically. Past all my frustration and concern about possibly injury, what made me so alarmed was the fact that there was a small part of me that was ok staying here. In fact, it felt natural, as though I had done it a million times before. I didn't have many friends, but I did consider Zim as someone I could count on, in one way or another anyhow. I came over here today because I had needed help in class, but I knew very well it was just an excuse. I _wanted_ to be here for one reason or another, and the Gaz I knew myself to be had never cared about or sought after friendship.

I had never needed to depend on anyone before, and that wasn't a habit I intended on making in the future.

I turned on my side to watch TV with Gir, trying hard to not focus too much on the situation at hand. I would admit that I saw Zim as a friend, admit that he was good at math, but I would not admit that I needed him around, or even wanted him around.

In the morning, I would get up and walk home if I could. Until then though, I would just rest up some more and hope that I would feel better in the morning.

iiiii

I could hear Gir screaming even from the depths of my lab, and I couldn't help but laugh to myself. I had no clue what Gaz had done to upset him, however it seemed as if his screaming had bent her to his will because there was silence soon after.

I really should be getting some sleep myself, however with my plans to see the Tallest coming up so soon, there was much to prepare for so I could actually leave in a timely fashion. That and the fact that I knew Gaz would be falling asleep soon, whether she wanted to or not, and it felt wrong to be sleeping when she was in such defenseless state. Though I had acted as though she were amusing me with her frail attempts to leave, it was alarming to see that she could barely stand up. She had been worse off than I had believed her to be.

My original intentions had been to let her come to on her own, and then take her back to her dwelling place once she was ready, however when I saw how unstable she was, to such an extent she couldn't stand, I knew she would be staying under my watch until she was better.

It was only practical. I had used up her medical supplies when I was there a few months ago, so if she went there she wouldn't be able to fend for herself.

It never ceased to amaze me how easily I picked up on the human culture. No wonder the Tallest choose me for this secret mission and allowed me to come to see them for counsel. It only bared witness to show how truly incredible I was in the Irken society. If it weren't for great Invaders like me, the very fabric of our society would certainly unravel.

I began filing through some paperwork, idly listening to whatever noise came through the walls. I allowed a smile to pass my lips as I sat there in contentment. I could hear the high squeaks of Gir, an occasional laugh from Gaz, and generally, in this small moment it was...peaceful. That was an odd feeling for me, one that was very unfamiliar and strange.

I found the unfamiliar feeling to be relaxing, and calm. It was nice.

Everything I knew and understood about life was based around conquest and battle. War wasn't just some time period for Irk; it was a constant way of life. Of course there were those that lived a more luxurious life on our home planet, but the entire society was based off from the fact we were always at battle in one way or another, and very few Irken's actually sat on the sidelines once the opportunity to battle presented itself. Personally, I had always been in the Irken Elite solder's division, until Mission Impending Doom came around and I was promoted to an Invader.

Living to fight and fighting to live, it was all I had ever known. There really was no such thing as peace; even now I was in the process of preparing to destroy this planet.

For this small moment, I found that didn't matter. Gir was happy, the human would never admit it, but she was contempt here for the time being, and I found that I was okay with how things were. Why was it such a stretch for me to find a peace that the humans seem to live in here, and not just me, but the entire Irken empire? There was no arguing that the human race was comprised of complete fools, but so many of them were happy. Despite their lack of technology, planets at their disposal, and social rank among other empires, they were content.

And what of Gaz? Was she happy? Did she find life on earth fulfilling, or did she wonder what life would be like if she lived elsewhere?

I gave a sigh, shaking my thoughts back onto my newest project, hoping that if only for two seconds my mind would stay on myself and not Gaz. It seemed like I just kept running into her more and more, at first on purpose, but now it seemed as if fate were working against me to make it even more difficult to keep my wits around her.

In time, it wouldn't matter though. She would be gone once her head was back to its usual pig smelliness, I'd be going back to Irk, and life would be going back to normal. From there it was only a short time before the entire planet was destroyed, and then it _really_ wouldn't matter.

Peace was just an illusion. A fleeting, wonderful illusion.

iiiii

"And how did you get that concussion again Gaz?"

"Fell down the apartment stair well..." I stated, lying down on my couch and staring at the MRI screen photo of my head.

"All seven flights?"

"Umm...yup. And thanks for sending up some medical people- our nurse won't be back until tomorrow."

I had woken up later that afternoon on Saturday, and though I didn't feel quite like myself, I stumbled my way back to my apartment and called up Dad. He called up some old college friends in the area and they came to check out the damage. Sure enough, I had a concussion. It hadn't been serious luckily, though that would explain why I was so messed up for a while. The team informed me that I would have to stay home for the first few days of the week so I didn't overwork myself, but after that I would be fine.

For now I was able to walk around at least, no strenuous activity as one could imagine, but I wasn't crippled like I was the previous night. I still preferred to be sitting down, but I could get up, walk to get water, or whatever it was I needed to do so I could fend for myself again.

I obviously deterred myself from telling dad about the fact that I had ended up crashing at Zim's because of the situation...in fact, I had yet to tell either Dad or Dib at all that Zim was around at all. I might at one point, however in such a situation, I didn't think that was quite the right timing to bring him up again.

Besides that, I wasn't really quite ready to face the event to myself yet. I didn't really want to think that I had stayed at Zim's last night. Of course nothing had happened, in fact I didn't even see him when I woke up the next day, but regardless, I couldn't forget my odd emotions that accompanied my staying there.

Zim was frustrating, and arrogant, but still. In the past four or so months, he had become somewhat of an ally to me. I would allow myself to see him as a friend, I was ok with that, but there were certain boundaries that I didn't want to cross. Staying over, intentional or not, was one of those.

"I am always happy to help my offspring Gaz- even your insane brother! Speaking of which, when is your winter break?"

I set down the dark x-ray paper, carefully moving to the kitchen and looking at a calendar for the dates, "Uh...looks like in a couple weeks. We don't get off till right before Christmas practically...lets see...what's today's date?"

"December 3rd."

"Ah, so yeah, looks like we are getting off the Friday right before Christmas, the twenty-first. Got anything in mind for the holidays then?"

I hadn't really thought about Christmas all that much. For thanksgiving, Dad had used his strange floating screens at each of our places to have a family dinner together, which had been strangely awkward considering I had grown up around them. With winter break, we were getting two full weeks off, so hopefully the monitors wouldn't be necessary this time around. Perhaps Dad would be trying to pull some last ditch effort to get us together for the holidays.

As much as holidays and joyful seasons bored me, I really wouldn't mind getting back in contact with my family and hometown. It had been four months now since I had even smelled Bloaty's pizza and that alone would be enough to make me walk home if I had to.

I continued talking with Dad for a while longer, finding that I really didn't have anything better to do, or better said, I couldn't really think of much else to do. I could play hours of video games of course, but with my concussion, the team warned me that staring at screens would only irritate and make things worse so that was out. Not only that, but I had beaten all of my games so many times that they were becoming boring. I had no clue where a good game store was around here, so it seemed as if a decent chunk of my life was slowly shutting down.

At least I would know what to ask 'Santa' for Christmas this year.

iiii

"Computer, shut and lock down the base while I am away at the learning facility."

"Are you sure you don't want me to let that_ girl_ in?" The computer's voice was taunting and smug, which I scowled at internally.

"You dare invoke my wrath? Lock and secure! Obey me!" I shouted back, walking out the front door and out onto the filthy human streets. As predicted, Gaz left the next morning while I was in the lower levels of my base. I wasn't even aware she had left until Gir started throwing a huge tantrum about his 'best friend' leaving. Gir should be grateful that Gaz didn't seem to think of the best friend role like that dirt child Keef did. She would have never left.

Gir however was rather simple minded with his rubber band head, and didn't really think of such variables like I did. No, Gaz was far too stubborn and prideful to accept help. She was so different from the other earthlings. She acted more comparable to a member of the Irken race than she did with the human race. Humans all worked together and accomplished their goals in unison; Gaz had always been one to fend for herself. Though she would sometimes bail out Dib stink when he got too deeply tangled in my clever web of amazingness, she generally seemed to care less about assisting others.

I face palmed myself in annoyance. It seemed as if every thought I was having lately was always related to her. Always. Even if I was trying to focus, she would randomly pop up in one way or another- sometimes in person in the case of yesterday.

Just what was it that made her so fascinating to me though?

I couldn't really decide because it wasn't really one thing. Everything about her was so familiar, yet not. Humans and Irkens seemed to have a similar anatomy, which I had always found to be interesting, her mannerisms were so Irken that I often felt as though she would be easy to talk and associate with, she was skilled in technology and understanding of sciences- and so many other variables, that I found myself dwelling on her constantly, even if I didn't intend to..

To top it all off, it seemed as if I couldn't control myself from being around her. How many nights had I been at her apartment watching her sleep? How many times had I seen her, and instantly remember how she looked in that nightwear in the moonlight? Even after all this time, I could feel my chest tighten in want at just the memory alone.

It frustrated me. I was Zim! I was under control of no one, especially not a little pathetic human girl. It was just that no matter what I did, she was there.

There was a word for her, I just couldn't seem to think of it.

Frustrated all the more, I walked into math class, instantly checking Gaz's seat. She hadn't been in class for the past few days, however each night she seemed to be sleeping soundly. I wasn't sure why she was still missing class, but I had a feeling it was due to the head injury she received over the weekend.

Today however, she was attending class again. Looking up, she seemed to acknowledge my presence, though overall did little to change and continued to read whatever book she was into this week.

Ignoring me as usual.

I bit back a growl as a wave of frustration washed over me. That was another thing that always made her stand out; she never seemed to care, ever! I could have the greatest plan ever known to her small purple haired head, and she wouldn't even spare a half a second to look at it! Back in high school, I couldn't even _walk_ into a room without her annoying brother swearing to end my life and home planet, but with Gaz, I could very likely destroy the earth and she STILL wouldn't look up and acknowledge me.

I scowled as I sat down in my chair, staring towards the front of the class.

Difficult. That was the word for Gaz. She was very, _very_ difficult.

The teacher walked in and began to talk about more primary math that served nothing more than to waste my mind into boredom. I hated this school, and all other education systems out there. The teachers were so basic and elementary, yet the attending students had to pay so much money just to hear these teachers talk about the stupidest things in the world.

History for example. That was a dumb class I had been enrolled in. All their history was about them. There was not a single lesson about other race's conquest, or why territories and galaxies were divided like they were. It was truly as if the humans believed that out of all the billions and trillions of miles in just their galaxy alone (plus all the others) that they were the only alive species out there.

Fools.

It would be so nice to return to Irk, if only to get away from this place for the time being. It would be refreshing to return to a society of normal people with real intelligence, not this pathetic earth garbage. The teacher continued going over variables, effects on pie, graphing, though I doubted the teacher even had a clue what they were saying. These basic concepts were just the building blocks of technology, engineering, violating...how could the humans expect to become anything if in the prime of their life they were still learning how to do everything?

Finally after an agonizingly slow hour spent of watching the clock meticulously, the class ended. I stood up plainly, moving out into the hallway to clear my head of everything the teacher had just said. Foolish mortals.

"Uh...Zim."

Gaz?

I didn't turn around, biting back a groan. I knew that voice too well, it was Gaz. Normally I would want her to confront me, to acknowledge the fact that I was alive, however today I wanted to stay clear of her. My infactuation with her was getting out of hand.

"You require something more, human?"

I could hear her sigh behind me, and a part of me wished I had turned around to see the emotions on her face. What was she thinking about?

"Yeah Zim. You promised you'd tutor me, remember? I'm still really confused about the class so I'd really appreciate the...help." she bit out the last word and I found myself smiling lightly at her admittance. I was Irken- I understood the pain of asking for help. Even I had to seek the assistance of Dib from time to time in the past, and had also felt the bite each time I required assistance.

I paused as I thought it over. It was easy to just say yes back then, but each day passed by and there was just so much to do before I could leave for Irk, Gaz or not. I was already feeling the time crunch even though there was still a few weeks away before my departure for Irk. I really didn't have time to tutor her...especially over something so stupid...but still…

I didn't want to turn her away entirely, but I didn't have time to spare for today. There was too much to be done and it was becoming increasingly difficult to focus on what I needed when she was around. If she came over this afternoon it was unlikely I'd accomplish anything, and then I'd fall behind for sure.

After a moment of debating with myself, I turned around to a crossed armed Gaz, impatiently waiting upon my answer. I gave a sigh, "Alright human. I will tutor you, however I have much to do, so we will start this teachings on Friday after school."

Gaz said nothing, though gave a small nod, walking off after a moment in silence.

That would give me a few days to get a majority of my work done. When Friday came around, I would be prepared to handle whatever questions she would have.

As focused as I knew I needed to be, there was a small tinge of excitement deep in my body.

Though I often watched her from a distance, this would be different. Perhaps I would again experience that feeling that was there the last time she had been around.

Peace.

Never before had I been so excited about the coming weekend.

iiiii

Hey IZ fans! I finally got this chapter up, and in fact I am so tired I am ready to crash on my laptop. Oh well. I've been wanting to update for a long while now, so it's nice to be able to do so. I hope you all like this chapter. It's got a bit of fluff, though mainly this is a big transitional chapter for events yet to come. I can't quite decide where I want this story to end per say, but I've got some great ideas you guys will be certain to love.

Oh, and thank you guys so much for the great reviews! They have been so encouraging for me to read and really keep me excited about writing this story for you guys. As you are aware, this is my first IZ story so it is great to hear that I have managed to keep them in character so far for you guys.

Again, I hope you like this chapter, you have been a great audience! I don't know when my next update will be with college weighing down on me so hard, but rest assured I take writing very seriously. Thanks again guys! See you at chapter five :D


	5. Of Night and Nightmares

_(Revised 4/03/2012)_

Hey all- guess who is writing up the next chapter?

Yup! Midnight in the house! Try to hide your excitement :D

Speaking of great excitement, I have a great announcement for you guys! This story will have a squeal! _(This was supposed to say sequel, however after the hilarious comment made about this misspelling, 'squeal' will remain ^.^)_

That's right! After doing some plot reviews with my friends, we decided that the ending was slightly unsatisfying, and in turn, discovered a whole other section of the story that did more than fit- it completed the story perfectly! I am so excited about this! I can't say how long this story will be, but when I do finish it- those who can't have enough will have an entire story to follow it in a continuation of the story you know and love.

Indeed!

Well..I suppose this means actually allowing you guys to read then? Silly me.

iiiiiii

The wall was hard, cold, and unmoving.

I could feel the frigid air like microscopic shards of glass, pricking my lungs with each sharp breath I took.

The place was dark and the moment seemed to still as I gained my bearings, at least tried to.

I was the prey, but I had come to a dead end and I was trapped.

This was unusual for me. I felt frantic. I really didn't know what to do. I was Gaz. Nothing ever happened to me in life. I just shrugged my shoulders, and walked right out of any dangerous situations that would often destroy a normal human being. However, it seemed my 'don't give a shit' attitude was no longer my ally, and had long run away, leaving a scared, inexperienced little girl cowering in fear at the darkness. The darkness didn't seem to care who I pretended to be on the outside. It reverted me back to what I really was, a scared little girl that was begging to be saved.

I stood there, heaving for breath, trying to find my escape route. There had to be one. There just had to be; there was _always_ a way out that I could use without needing anyone else. Not that I was opposed to help, but I knew I was all alone. I _couldn't_ depend on others, it was all on me.

As I looked outward, I couldn't see anything but the blackness surrounding me, and in fact, I couldn't even see the wall- I could only feel it. I was in a world of pure black. I could see me, about a foot in front of me, but nothing to my sides, nothing behind me, not even the ground. I was floating in darkness.

My only option was to go forward logically; however, the wall was my reference point. It was the only thing that said 'You are here' in this strange place of pure black and confusion. The wall might be trapping me, but it was my stability and sanity. I had no where to go. It had taken so long to get to where I was now, and now that I had finally reached this stability I didn't want to leave it so easily.

What would I do though? Would I just stand here for eternity, encamped in darkness? Why didn't I have the courage to let go and keep moving onward? I shook my head, answering my own question with despair. I wasn't strong enough. I had been running and I was exhausted; I was too tired to keep on fighting like this.

I suddenly found myself crying. I was trapped here in this hellish place, with an invisible wall, and I was too afraid to do a thing about it. I sat down on the dark, unseen ground, crying harder. I was alone. For so long. I don't know for how long, but time really became lost in the place. I was just there, and I knew that there was no getting out.

I would have kept crying, but I found that in time I ran out of tears. Tears meant that I had hope I would get out, frustration with myself that I wasn't trying harder. I no longer cared.

Suddenly, far in the distance, a light shone like...a street light. I squinted, leaning forward slightly as my eyes tried to clarify the image.

Dib! Dad!

My family! They would help me, but they were just so far away though...

I stood up, calling out to them, no longer caring to act tough or strong. After all this time, someone was there. I wanted out. I wanted someone to see me, and save me from this darkness. What better people than my family? They would hear me, they would save me.

Someone would come for me.

I kept waving, screaming, jumping up and down to try to get their attention...but they never saw me. They never heard me. It's like they didn't even know I had been gone.

No. This wasn't happening! No! Someone! anyone! Don't give up, please!

They began to turn away from me, and soon, they began walking away until they, too, faded into the darkness.

They never came.

They never came for me.

I was alone again. No hope. No one here but myself and just a sad light so far in the distance, as if there simply to remind me of what I had lost.

I was alone again.

Days passed by.

It seemed as if years passed by.

I was alone. Always alone. Always in darkness. The light always there but no others there, and none that could hear me so far away. I would forever remained trapped here, slaved to my own sorrow and helplessness.

As I looked up, certain it might be the last time I allow myself to look at the light of 'hope', something is different.

I can't quite place it.

Wait. Yes. There was someone there. Some one was under the light again.

...Zim?

Was that Zim? Zim, yes. It was Zim. And in that moment, I found myself crying all over again. I couldn't handle this. How long had I been here with no hope? Why would I even try to reach out to people when I knew they couldn't see me or hear me. I was beyond reach now- I would forever be trapped and remain a slave to this place.

Never to break free.

I moved my head back down to the ground, feeling sadness wash over me again. Curse life for making me so hopeful like this. We both knew nothing would come, and in the end I would just be even more sad and lost. Why was this place being so hateful to me?

"Gaz?"

I looked up- shocked to hear that sound that echoed across the dark walls. Me. That was me.

I was Gaz. He remembered me. I wasn't alone...maybe...just this once...

I'd try again.

I stood up, trying again once more.

"Zim! ZIM! I'm right here! Zim, please find me! Hear me! ZIM!" I screamed with all my might, continuing to say his name over and over.

"Gaz? Gaz what's wrong? Gaz!"

He still couldn't see me! He was looking for me, searching from his light post for me, but it was just so hard to see through the darkness around me.

"I'm right over here! I'm scared!" I sobbed, reaching out as far as I could from the wall. "Zim!"

Suddenly, he disappeared, but just as quickly as he had left, he was suddenly there. He was with me.

Zim found me. I was safe. Everything would be ok.

"Gaz! It's ok."

Though I couldn't see him as well as I wanted to, I could feel him there. His arms were wrapped so tightly around me it was almost painful, but it was ok.

It was finally ok.

I turned into him, crying my eyes out, but feeling safe. For the first time. I continued trying to explain how sorry I was, but all that came out was garbled sounds and more tears.

"I'm right here Gaz. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere."

And with that, everything slowly hazed away, until all the darkness dispelled.

All was well.

iiiiiii

I really shouldn't be here.

I really should be back at the base, working on something for my trip coming up so shortly.

But I couldn't help it.

Gaz wasn't fully healed from her fall just yet, and I wanted to make sure she continued to sleep through the night alright. I wasn't sure when I had appointed myself as her personal protector, but here I was once again, staring into her apartment window and watching her sleep peacefully. I couldn't help it sometimes. Something about her made me want to be so possessive of her- wanted to own her as a personal toy- and I didn't like the idea of her just being alone while god knows what was happening around her.

Plus, she was just sleeping. As long as she never caught me, no harm could come from this.

I found her sleeping habits to be so fascinating to me. She would toss and turn, but regardless, sleep for so many hours. Irkens needed rest as well, however our rest was slightly different. Because of how much energy an Irken's PAK provided the individual, where humans would crash for such long spans of time from the mental strain of the day, Irkens would only need two to three hours for their minds to rejuvenate. During this time, one's PAK would be charged in a generator as well- so in around two hours, an Irken had the benefits of 'a full nights sleep'.

As I stood there outside, I began to notice she was tossing and turning much more than usual. She looked...troubled.

Frantic infact.

I had never seen such a strange look on her face before. The look was...weak. Confused. Scared. Everything Gaz pretended she never was as if she were some super human with no weaknesses. I watched her more deeply, feeling slightly concerned at this odd behavior. I had never seen her sleep so troubled or disturbed before.

Before I even knew what I was about to do, I utilized my PAK and unlocked the door, walking into her apartment and closing the door without making a sound. It amazed me how clean Gaz always kept everything. The last time I was here, I was too distracted by her to notice much, but now that I got a look around the place, her living space was spotless and neat as a pin. The entire apartment smelled like some tart fruit, and a sweet smell I couldn't quite place.

All I knew was that I liked it.

It was calming and fit Gaz so perfectly.

"Zim..."

I heard Gaz call my name and I froze.

Had she seen me?

Was my cover blown?

How would I ever get out of this? She'd never let me live it down, and she was far too intelligent to fall for some split second story. I never should have come here, I should have been at my base and…Why was she not shouting at me?

I stayed in perfect stillness as though waiting for her to appear, however Gaz never came out of her room.

In fact, instead of her coming out, a new noise filled the air.

Sniffling.

Was Gaz...crying?

I was cautious. For all I knew, she was awake and ready to stab out my eyes, but I was already in here, and if there was the slightest chance something was wrong, I didn't just want to leave and let her fend for herself against whatever might be plaguing her.

Turning on the hallway light, I moved towards her room cautiously, hearing her sniffling become louder and more distinct. I wasn't comfortable moving around her apartment without her knowledge, but I was almost certain she was crying. It alarmed me to no end, just the very idea of it. What was wrong with Gaz? She never cried, never complained, never showed weakness- just stuck to herself and toughed her way out of any situation. What could possibly be wrong? Regardless, I found myself walking with a quicker pace as each sniffle went by.

I carefully opened the door to her bedroom, shocked to see Gaz. She was on her bed, curled up in a tight ball, tears rolling down her face as she continued mumbling to herself and crying silently. She was still...asleep? My scanners indicated she was at a resting state, so what was going on? A dream right? With one's mind being at a resting state for so long, it was likely to create imaginations and situations out of sheer boredom.

It had to be. She was dreaming.

"Zim...Zim"

She mumbled again, tightening her grip around her curled self and rolling back and forth across her bed in a panicked manner.

Me?

She was saying my name. She was dreaming about me? And she was crying? I'd think dreaming of me would be an honor- not sadness! Stupid earth girl!

Her tears suddenly began to flow faster down her face, and her slight sniffles became loud sobs I had never heard from a mortal before. You'd think she was dying or in great pain. Just what was she imagining in that head of hers? I was concerned for her. I didn't want to wake her up. I didn't want to wake her, and attempt to disappear in the same moment. I'd just be here and make sure she didn't destroy herself.

Just as I decided my plan of action- a hands off, observant approach, she suddenly began shaking. Shivering from fear it seemed.

Throwing my previous idea out of mind, I decided I no longer cared if she woke up or not. In fact, I intended on doing just that.

"Gaz." I stated, moving down onto her bed and sitting beside her. Whatever she was seeing in her head needed to stop, it was clearly tormenting her. I grabbed her shoulders, shaking her slightly, "Come on Gaz, wake up."

She didn't wake up.

"Gaz? Gaz what's wrong? Gaz!" I called again, shaking her almost roughly. Nothing. Why wasn't she waking up? I gave an exhale, forcing myself to remain calm. Whatever was going on in her head, she wouldn't let herself out of it.

"Zim…I'm scared" she mumbled brokenly, tears streaming down her face still.

I wasn't sure why, but I felt fear at this too. I couldn't help her. I couldn't wake her, and that feeling made my stomach hurt deeply with dread. I was the Almighty Zim, an elite Irken solider, yet here I was, helpless on the bed of an earth child, wishing that I could dispel her fears if just for this one moment to no avail.

Standing up in confusion, then sitting back down, I aligned myself more on the bed than before, positioning myself around her and holding her tightly to my chest. I wasn't sure at all if this would help her or not, perhaps it was selfish, but I had to hold her. I had to know that she wasn't going to slip away from my grasp when I wasn't looking. With luck, my actions would comfort her some how within the recesses of her mind, and hopefully dispel the horrid things that were disturbing her so.

"Gaz it's ok." I reassured, holding her to my body tightly in an embrace similar to what I saw other earthlings do when they were each other's love things. I could feel her body heat radiating into my skin, her soft body rigid against mine, her back pressing against me as she breathed, even the sting of her tears as they slid down from her face onto my arms. I was...proud to be where I was. Proud that I was here, witnessing Gaz at such a weak state.

She continued to cry, soon shifting around until she had turned into me, fisting her hands into my shirt and pressing herself against me for support.

I moved my hands across her back soothingly, reassuring her further as she seemed to calm slowly, a gentle smile pulling at my lips, "I'm right here Gaz. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere."

I continued holding her, admittedly knowing that I loved the way it felt to simply hold her like this. As strong as she pretended to be, I knew that deep down she was scared just like everyone else out there, but too scared to show it.

I loved knowing this side of her, knowing that her sudden calm was my doing.

I was able to help her. Deep down, if only on a subconscious level, she just proved that she trusted me to some extent. I liked that, very much in fact.

I sat there for hours holding her, at one point changing positions so I too was laying down with her, holding her tight to me in a protective manner that would scare any enemy away, even the ones in her head so it seemed. I'm not sure when or for how long, but I fell asleep with her, perhaps her body coaxing me to sleep after such a long time of concentration.

When I woke up, the night was getting ready to change to day, possibly around four AM, and I knew I had to return to the base.

Carefully moving from the bed, I left Gaz where I had found her, leaving a small kiss on the top of her head, then heading out the same door quietly.

iiiii

I shivered slightly, sitting up.

My head burned and my eyes hurt, and I was freezing cold.

What a horrible, horrible dream.

I had never once dreamed of Zim, and the first time I do, he's like some hero. How weird. How did he even get in my dream to begin with?

I shivered the dark dream out of my head, remembering the awful emotions I had felt from it. Based off the fact my eyes were burning, I must have been affected quite greatly by the dream to such an extent that I was physically crying.

It wasn't entirely new to me. I used to have night terrors as a child, and even now in my older years every once in a while I would still have random dreams that I just couldn't escape from.

Why was I so cold though? It was like a chunk of my body heat just randomly up and left for no apparent reason.

Wrapping up in my blanket, I moved towards the thermostat up in the living room to readjust the heater, though soon realized what the problem was. The screen door was open. No wonder it was so cold! I thought I had locked the door before I had gone to bed, but I must have been so tired that my mind made the detail up.

I rolled my eyes at my own stupidity, moving back to my bedroom and laying down again, hoping to catch a few more hours of sleep before class began.

iiii

"And so why did the patient die class?"

Mrs. Butler sat down, beaming down at the class in expectation.

An over eager student raised their hand, almost beginning to speak before the teacher even called on her

"Uh yeah. So the customer died when the salt solution was pushed into their veins, and they went into shock because...the salt...overloaded them?"

I rolled my eyes. Some people really needed to be locked away. If you jet out of your chair to answer the question, one could assume they actually knew the answer. What a joke. Mrs. Butler also didn't seem all too amused by her ingenious response either. With a sigh, she stood up from her chair and began pacing around the front of the room. This is something she often did when she was frustrated by the general class performance. After a moment and another sigh, she paused, leaning on her desk as she looked back at the class.

"Class..." she paused as she took the time to allow her eyes to scan the class, "This course is an _Advanced_ science course. Giving me thoughtless, spur of the moment answers will not cut it." Again she paused, seeming to decide within herself how to go about whatever she was hoping to communicate, "In your other classes, teachers give you worksheets, assign papers, and generally, if you know how to sound right, that's all they really want. This class is not like your other classes students. In this room, we study life. Understanding- not just replicating- but putting the pieces together. _Why_ do things do what they do? What makes life alive and what makes dead, dead? You need to think like an advanced student."

"Remember in living things, form always follows function class. Form. Follows. Function. Now let's solve this together. This is an IV drip, meaning that the saline solution is going to what group of cells in the body?"

A student spoke up, adding to the discussion, "Well it's injected into the veins so...the red blood cells?"

The teacher nodded, "Very good. Now we have to ask the problem why it's bad? Why is a 5% salt solution in the blood stream bad. It's not a poison, so why did the patient go into shock? If it was just a salt over load, the patient would have simply been dehydrated. They went into shock and died."

I slowly raised my hand, uncertain of my answer but I wanted to take a stab at it. My thoughts were really a shot in the dark, but in an odd way, it made sense. I just wanted to know if I was somewhat on the right track or not.

"Yes Gaz?"

"Well, the patients IV was...hypertonic, right?"

"Yes, so what does that mean for this patient?"

"Well, when the salt solution came into their veins, the was a great osmotic pressure outside of the blood cells, so to fix that, the cells released their water via osmosis, and the cells shrinking is what caused the problem." I paused, mentally correcting myself, "Not because of the altered state, but because of the lack of oxygen."

I could feel the stares of the people around me, and I shrugged, explaining further, "Well...if form follows function, the form of cells are circles with indents- those indents are used to carry oxygen. That's the function of red blood cells. So when the cells loose water, they shrivel. Without the form, the function can't be completed. Why are the shriveled blood cells a problem right? I know that oxygen is used to release energy when taken to the mitochondria. No oxygen, no mitochondria, no mitochondria, no energy. Without the ATP the body needed, the body would have gone into anaerobic respiration, building up lactic acid across the body, and the strain would have put the body into a state of shock, until it finally wouldn't be able to keep up with its own cellular demands. The body went into shock from lack of expendable energy, and was no longer able to keep functioning."

I paused again, mentally reviewing my answer. Yeah, that all made sense.

The obnoxious girl raised her hand, once again speaking before she was even called on, "Mrs. Butler is that right? Did that weird girl get it right?"

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. I may not be good at math, but this was a class that I excelled at. That obnoxious girl could bite me.

Turning my attention to the teacher, I once again thought over my answer. I knew it was a bit over the top, but everything made sense. I felt confident that it was the correct answer.

"That, class..." Mrs. Butler stated, staring down at the floor. She looked up with a small grin, "Is thinking like an advanced student. Excellent work Gaz. I was simply hoping to hear that the osmotic pressure would cause the red blood cells to collapse, however that was beyond expectation." She gave me a small wink, then returned to her lesson, "Remember class- form follows function. In living organisms, form follows function. When the blood vessels form was altered, the function was as well." She gave one last nod, then continued teaching the class and moving onto the next arsenal of questions she always seemed to have.

I tried to ignore the glares I could feel on me, and was mentally making notes of the people that were so daring- swearing myself that I would see their doom. It wasn't my fault I did well in this class- science was in my blood. Really. My dad was a super scientist, Dib was a paranormal loser- and so it really wasn't surprising that I seemed to understand living things and cells. It wasn't that complex at all, rather easy for me in fact.

When the class ended, I walked out plainly, automatically heading towards my apartment. The math teacher had assigned us around three straight hours of homework (in a subject I had yet to understand) and not to mention I had a paper to write in English over what my 'beliefs' were.

I doubted the teacher wanted to hear about what I believed about her joke of a teaching method, my theory that she would get hit by a train before the end of the year, or that her writing style reminded me of Dib's annoying head and useless ramblings. I would just have to make up some lame paper about specie enlightenment, or some other safe topic bordering around world peace and fighting world hunger.

Sad really, however it looked like I would be booked for the night in the homework department.

After walking up the seven flights of stairs, feeling as though my lungs might collapse after the mountainous hike, I opened the door, slinging my backpack onto the couch, instantly heading to the fridge for soda. If I would be doing hours upon hours of homework I likely didn't even understand, I would have my freaking soda.

With a groan, I moved to the couch and opened my math book to the corresponding page.

Uggh. Algebraic Proofs.

Great.

iiiiiii

"Computer, run a diagnostic scan of the cruiser. How long would it take to travel to Irk and back at its current condition?"

"Processing. "

I tapped my foot in annoyance, moving a piece of dust between my fingers while I waited. I knew I had a lot of work to do, however each time I sat down to think about it, more and more work seemed to pop out at me that I wasn't certain how I was going to get finished. The human's winter break for college had surprisingly fallen right around the time I needed to leave the planet, so my absence wouldn't be questioned by the college authorities. As long as I could leave and get back in that amount of time then I would be good to go without looking suspicious.

Problem was, my trip to Earth from Irk took me six months, and that was when the Voot was in its prime. It was quite likely that I would have to revamp the entire ship, or make an entire vessel from scratch. With my enhanced inventing skills I had been refining throughout the years, it shouldn't be too daunting a task, however, I was hoping that I would just have to tweak a couple pieces, add some extra thrusters and hopefully be able to move onto the next order of business.

"Answer formulated." The computer stated, and I could only cross my fingers that the Voot's systems hadn't fallen that much. "The Voot at top speed would take 1.72 years from current location to the Tallest's location on planet Irk."

"Goohh!" I groaned, slamming my fists into my head. The Voot's speed had decreased by over fifty percent! That was as bad as it could be! I would have had to leave Earth before I had even graduated from the humans 'high' school last year.

"What parts of the Voot are salvageable for a new vessel?" I questioned, hoping that a good portion of the Voot was still able to be used in the next ship I would have to build. The transmitters? Cooling and heating centers? The propelling system? Gravity balancing machinery?

"The windshield."

I closed my eyes and groaned again. Of course.

"Gir!" I called, hoping that the robot would be of some use for me.

"Yes?" he responded, standing up and dropping the cog he had been attempting to devour.

"We need to build a new vessel that is fast. VERY fast. We need to have it built and running in less than two weeks before we leave for Irk. All the bugs have to be worked out by then. We are starting with the blue print. You draw out something for speed and excellent dynamics. We can combine ideas and see what works out."

I had a feeling that Gir really wouldn't be that much help at this phase, however even if he drew or thought of simply one idea that was a good one, that would be more than I had without his help.

This was so nerve wracking for me. As much as I tried to deny it, I knew the Tallest hadn't been taking me seriously in past. It had been around my Sophomore year when I discovered just how unwilling they were to assist me. Around that time, I really had a great idea. I gave half the planet illness and the lame humans called it 'H1N1" claiming it to be some new version of a mutated virus they had been fighting. All I needed was for them to take a sample of the mutagen, and mass produce it back at Irk. My base wasn't big enough to create enough to effect the entire planet, and regardless all my proof that it could make the planet weak and vulnerable in their diseased state, the Tallest blew me off. I knew from that point that I would have to go about things on my own for a while, and cut transmission from them. Years had passed by without word from me, and it seemed that had done the trick.

Be it simply because I was tall, they were finally giving me a chance. I couldn't mess it up by not getting there until 1.72 years from now. Who knew when the Tallest would take me seriously again? I had to get to Irk- had to prove to them I why was an asset like I knew I was, reveal to them a good plan, get their advice, support and weapons, and from there- be done with the planet. I had to. I was an Invader. Operation Impending Doom Two had reached a stalemate per say. The remaining planets were more established empires like our own, and defeating them had proved to be a difficult task. I had to get it done or I'd be stuck here forever.

I moved my mind onto a new ship design, scribbling down images and statistics across the paper. I wanted the ship to be more powerful. Not just because I enjoyed the power, but I would need it to be faster, and if I had any hope to taking the planet over by force, I had to have a ship with more defensive capabilities than the Voot did. After all, Tak had made her own ship so long ago that was far more powerful than a standard Irken vessel, and I saw no reason why I couldn't do the same.

The Voot was small and easy to maneuver, however I wanted a ship that was bigger than the Voot. One with a piloting center, back room, engine board- everything that a normal ship had. Obviously nothing like the Massive, but a happy middle between the two. Maybe I'd take a rough sketch from the Interceptor ships and tweak those up a bit. In theory it might be more difficult to lug around, however, a larger ship meant room for a larger, powerful engine. Yes. I could do this.

"Gir! What have you come up with?" I asked, hoping for something that resembled a ship or something that would be useful.

The little robot held up a piece of paper with...a box cube thing.

"And this is a...?"

"Storage box!"

"Storage? For what may I ask?"

"Pigeons!"

"Pigeons? And why do we need to take pigeons on our voyage? Gir! We need to focus on the mission of getting back to Irk- not filthy bird monsters!"

"I like pigeons!" he stated, turning the paper around to himself and staring at the paper as if it were a pigeon and not paper at all. I can't say I wasn't surprised his brain storming did nothing to help. Though it would be nice to have a fully functional SIR unit, he did help make life less...stressful than it seemed to be. Which was good. Not a good as in destroying the earth good, but still good none the less.

Turning my attention back onto my drawings, I continued writing across the page, adding in features and ideas I thought would be useful. I wanted more weapons, more defensive capabilities, better ingenuity and reliability; however I couldn't get too picky. I didn't have an unlimited supply of time to actually accomplish everything I was wanting to, and for that matter, I wasn't sure what supply's the humans would have, let alone where to find it all.

I moved towards some of the file compartments I had been keeping, pulling out a mechanics manual over the Irken Interceptors. They were fast and powerful as they were, but with my mechanic skills and understanding of science, I could very likely improve the already excellent systems. Grabbing out the manuscripts, I began thumbing through them, adding in markings and notes as to what made them so powerful, why they worked, and my overview ideas of how to make them better.

A part of me was wondering how advanced Irk had become since my absence. Technology was always improving even on this stink planet, so I could only imagine the great findings and updates that had been done on Irk. One thing was for certain- when I got back to Irk- I would be giving my entire base one huge update that it very much so needed.

I continued drawing for many more hours, feeling rather tired and sluggish as time moved on. I had stayed up all last night with Gaz, and though I did sleep for a few hours like normal, I had yet to recharge my PAK, and in order to function at its fullest, was stealing energy from my physical self, meaning I was tired, cranky, and sleep deprived. With a groan, I cleaned up the labs, filed all the paperwork, moved my designs onto the desk, and headed to my quarters for a much needed rest for both body, mind and PAK.

After connecting to all the energy chargers, I gave a sigh and forced my mind to relax. It wasn't often I didn't get the needed sleep for myself as it really wasn't healthy for one to do so, and it could easily destroy some PAK technology- I got to be there for Gaz. Got to see a Gaz that was...perfect.

It was all worth it.

So very.

Very.

Worth it.

iiii

A/N: *tries not to fall asleep on keyboard*

Yay. Finally got this chapter up. You nazis.

Just kidding :D You know I love you guys. Though truth be told, I'm jealous of Zim. I really could use some RnR, but no, I need to update for my fans who are sharpening the pitchforks for another update. I'm so tired! GAH! Perhaps that's why there is so much sleep stuff in this chapter.

Actually, Gaz's dream is really symbolic so if you guys want to try to crack it? If not you can mail me and I'll show you the ropes. _(No I won't.)_

Is this authors note making sense? You have no clue how delusional I am right now. I will be happy if my words are legible English come the morning. Well- time to get this college carcass in bed. Night chall!


	6. Difficult

_(Revised 04/03/2012)_

DAMMIT!

Freaking Bless it!

(the rest we censor out because I rarely curse)

Hey adoring fans- guess who failed 2 of her college classes this semester and lost her scholarships? That's right- ME!

Yeah if you think you have it bad, try getting into med school with 2 F's on your transcript, and not to mention flat broke. When that happens, and then if you top it from there, say you get diagnosed with testicular and vaginal caner….all in the same day…then call me up. We'll have coffee and a grand pity party together. Except maybe not, because I don't really fancy some random person calling me. Either way, I decided I would write this up for you guys as a Christmas present. Enjoy :D

Oh- and paid advertisement here, I have a new story up that is not getting much traffic. It's a Danny Phantom fanfic about Ember and it is really good (really sad) but I'm not getting any readers. I don't know if any of you guys watch Danny Phantom, but if so, please check it out because I am slightly sad that I have not had almost any readers for this story. Anyhow, here is chapter six.

Iiiiiiiiii

I sat outside of the classroom in both annoyance and disgust, scribbling away on my new ship design.

I, once again, was kicked out of that room for lack of homework by that ridiculous excuse of an instructor, and I was getting rather tired of it. That foolish human woman! My intelligence was so great she could never even comprehend the limits of my mind.

"When I destroy the earth," I mumbled aloud, glaring at the door narrowly, "You will be the first to go."

No matter though what that teacher thought. I had much more important things to do than to worry about finding the angle of depression in a graph. My design was finally taking shape, my scribbles now less and less generic, morphing into details that I would need to start construction. The problem would be getting materials. I was certain the earth wouldn't have much of the metals and compounds I would need for the building process, so I would have to order them and hopefully have them rush delivered to the base in a decent amount of time.

The class door opened, and out came the college earth pigs, instantly flooding into the previously empty, and previously quiet, hallway. I folded my blueprint back into a notebook, closing it promptly as I prepared to move to my next class. How I loathed this place.

"Hey Zim-"

I looked up at the voice, belonging to Gaz who was moving out of the classroom with the rest of the humans. Standing up from the floor, I dusted off my pants, waiting for her to approach me.

"Today's Thursday and we're supposed to get together tomorrow like you said? I'd really appreciate it if we did because I didn't get a single answer right in today's assignment, and I really thought I understood this section." She looked down at the ground for a moment, giving a sigh of what I would call anger, then looked back up at me, an impatient look on her face, "And are you certain you understand math Zim? I get that you aced the test and all, but frankly you never turn in your homework and I really don't want to learn from an idiot."

Was she doubting me, on something as basic as math? Ridiculous.

"Look- I don't know much about this 'Frank' person," I snapped back, giving a small glare to return her own, "But I assure you of my intelligence, pathetic human. I will see you around five pm in the human resource center little Gaz. Don't be late." I responded, staring down at her smugly.

After a moment, she shook her head and with a snort, walking off, casually throwing in a 'Whatever' as she moved down the hall.

My eyes narrowed.

Difficult.

That was, without doubt, the perfect word for her. Difficult and stubborn.

It was strange to think that the same girl that was confidently walking away, was the same girl I held in my arms the whole night. She may have Irken like tendencies, but she couldn't hide away her weaknesses forever. Try as she may, she was far more breakable than she let people believe.

Being realistic with myself, I needed to just drop it and force myself to not solve this inexistent mystery that was Gaz. I needed to let her live her life, whatever was left of it at least, and finish my mission. She was a human, an inferior, stinking human. I was Irken, a race so elite most of the universe had succumbed to the empire long ago. Perhaps my fondness of her was simply because she reminded me of the people back home at times. If it was home I was missing, home I'd be very soon.

And, on a whole other side of things, Dib would kill me for sure if he found out that I had been taking interest in his sister.

If Dib ever found out that I was watching her at nice, about to tutor her… I could only imagine the horrible things that human would try to do to stop me. I shook my head, the mere idea of dealing with Dib rather taxing.

I had no intentions of bringing Dib into my life again. I finally was free of the pointy haired worm and there was no way I would let that luxury go so easily. Besides that, Gaz never seemed to care much about siding with Dib, so it was highly likely she wouldn't even mention my existence to her brother. I didn't like the fact that I was allowing myself to spend all this extra time on her for her tutoring, but so far I had found a way to keep my priorities straight so it wouldn't be so bad.

I would just have to watch my times and make sure I got an appropriate amount of work done each day. Once finals passed, she would be fine on her own for sure.

That in mind, I moved onto my next class, trying to ignore the lesson, the students, the teacher, noise, and anything else that would distract me from the mission. As much attention I had constantly been giving Gaz, an equal part of my mind was always preparing for my return to Irk. Currently the most pressing issue was getting a ready ship for the journey, and I spent most of my not occupied time drawing, balancing math variables with measurements, torque, aerodynamics, and other basic blueprint recordings. I was making the final touches, and would hopefully be able to order the materials I needed before the sun set.

Though for now, I was left to flipping through various pages, adding in touch ups to the design that would better the machine for the long run. At this point, my blueprint was decent, if not close to perfect, however I wanted to be certain the technology would be flawless before I started building it, and then make sure that it would be perfect for the trip. I had so much to do, but as long as I didn't get too distracted, I would be just fine.

I hope.

I still had to pack, make an inventory of the things I needed, and perhaps the most important, figure out what exactly I intended to present to the Tallest in a more organized fashion. I knew I had a good plan; however I had to make the Tallest see that, and agree with it enough to not only advice me, but hopefully support me as well. A technology upgrade would be nice, some new weapons would be a plus as well, and the fact that I would be seen as a valuable asset to the planet once more- That would be the ultimate reward.

"Zim, what do you think of Ardon's decisions?"

My attention snapped upwards towards the teacher, and I responded the only logical answer, "Foolish!"

That was the only possibly answer. Humans didn't have the ability to be wise. Humans were much to selfish- much to distracted to think clearly. This Ardon character couldn't prioritize his work, and it was his fault he turned out like he did.

For the past quarter, the class had been studying a book about a 'medieval' conqueror named Ardon. He was some warrior that was given a task to destroy the neighboring villages that dared to defy the kings rule. He was very good at what he did, however when he met a girl from a fellow village and fell in love with her, he ended up fighting off his own kingdom to protect the girl and her people. This decision later led to an alliance that made one of the first peaceful eras the earth had seen in years, after his warring race was put to an end by his own hand.

An obvious fool.

"Really Zim. Interesting take on the situation," the teacher set down the marker, turning around and staring at me with what I'm certain she believed was an intelligent look, "What makes you feel that way?"

I opened my mouth, about to respond about my feelings towards the inferior beasts, however was interrupted by an overly obnoxious loud child.

"Zim is just a creepy ugly boy that can't get a girlfriend! He's just jealous."

I felt a shiver go down my spine at her accusations, though knew at this point it was better to agree and allow the humans to think of my glorious self as 'ugly' or 'unattractive' than to reveal my true origins, where I would be considered very eligible by no stretch of the imagination. I was almost as tall as the tallest were at this point.

Ugly? No.

Jealous of pale, sickly humans? Hardly.

The teacher's attention shifted off from me and moved onto the girl which I was quite grateful for.

I wouldn't have even read the assignment chapters, however the fact that it was of a human invader interested me. I found it disturbing that this character gave up everything he had for a person he was supposed to destroy- a weak girl of all things. I was Zim, and not this Ardon. I would not make the same unwise choices. I moved back to my notebook, still flipping through it and making last minute changes, however couldn't tear my mind away from the conversation now that my attention had been brought elsewhere.

"Why do you say this?"

Who cared why? It was a foolish, squirmy earth girl. Humans were so bent on the dumbest things. Bonds. Friendship. Truth. They believed this would lead them to accomplishment. The only real accomplishment was to conquer. When everything thought as one- this was accomplishment. Anything else was merely a waste of time.

"Well," she began, and I did my best to mentally drown out her high voice, "He ended up seeing life from someone else's perspective. He fell in love and gave up his entire previous life for her. In the end he brought the world to peace. He did all things noble through self sacrifice."

"Noble?" I responded, sick of what I was hearing, "Failure to complete his mission- noble? Ha! This fool died as a failure. If he had put his priorities in proper place, he would have never failed in the first place. What you call dying for romance was nothing more than an act of his betrayal and inability to conquer! He was distracted by something other than his mission, and he dearly paid the price. As I said- foolish."

As much as I wanted to stay out of this ridiculous class discussion, I could feel my frustration over the subject. How could these stupid humans not see it? This guy failed! He was sent to the enemy, but was rather enticed by it, and couldn't complete what he set out to do. He was weak minded. He saw an easier path and he took it, and ultimately led to the downfall of his own people.

How could the humans not see how bad this was? They were so close-minded in their sing songy friendship that they were blinded to anything other than what they understood. He was a total and complete failure. A fool and an embarrassment to his people.

I understood his position very well, however, this Ardon beast and I were very different. Ardon failed his mission- and I…

I would not.

Under any circumstance.

I would not fail the empire.

iiiii

"Out of college then?" I asked, holding the phone between my shoulder and head, staring at the TV and playing an old video game I had drug out. This on the phone/video gaming at the same time was a skill I had mastered quite some time ago from when Dad would go on science trips for weeks at a time, so it felt like second nature to me.

"Yeah, finally. It feels odd because I don't have much homework tonight." Dib explained while I was furiously pressing buttons, shooting at all the vampire piggies that flew down from the sky. The game wasn't looking that good really. I was facing the wrong direction, it was level seven, and I really couldn't afford to make such a simple mistake so far into the game. It was a downhill battle, but I'd give it all I had time being.

"I wish I could say that." I grumbled, shoving my controller to the floor and shutting off the TV after losing my last life much quicker than I had intended, "I've got a ton of homework, not to mention I'll be getting math tutoring starting tomorrow." It sometimes felt odd to be talking to Dib on the phone. We had never been close growing up, and by the time we got to high school, some people had actually forgotten we were even related. Not that we were mean to each other or shoved each other into the lockers or anything. We just had nothing in common.

We didn't really resemble each other that much, didn't study the same things, and I found him to be the most annoying thing to ever 'grace' the planet. The only thing we had in common was just our parents. None the less though, now that I was in college, it was nice to have that one default ally to fall back on. I knew that no matter what was happening out here, as annoying as he was, I had an older brother that would always listen. Not that I ever had anything to tell him of course- I wasn't exactly a fountain of emotions, but all and all, it was nice to know.

"So have you got to talk to dad much yet?" Dib asked after a long moment of silence, apparently feeling the need to press on in the conversation. I wasn't great for talking on the phone, but he called me, so it was his job to keep things interesting or hang up.

"No, I haven't since Sunday. Something new going on then?" I asked, moving to the kitchen to clean up the few accumulated dishes from the past couple days. There really wasn't that many, I just hated clutter.

I started to load the small handful of dishes into the dishwasher, moving the phone back to my head and neck while I worked.

"Yeah, dad did some scheduling investigation- it turns out both you and I have an overlapping week off from college for Christmas in the upcoming few weeks. He wants us to get together for a family Christmas back at home."

A family Christmas? Even as antisocial as I normally was, that would be nice to see the family again after such a long time apart. Besides, I really didn't want a repeat episode of how thanksgiving went with the flying monitors and all, and of course being back at home meant a serious dose of Bloaty's pizza. That would make it all worth it, no matter how bad Dad's attempt at family time turned out to be.

" My break starts after the end of next week," Dib explained, "So I'll have plenty of time to get there before Christmas, but school starts back up the following Friday so I'll have to leave soon after. When's your break?"

"Me?" I asked, starting the dishwasher and stacking the clean dishes, "A week after you, right before Christmas pretty much. We go back around the middle of January. With how my break is looking, I can be there for both Christmas and New Years so that's nice. Are you planning on flying in for the holidays or driving?"

"With the car dad got me? Gaz, it's a brand new Mustang GT with Dad's adjustments to it. The chicks love it." He paused for what I assumed to be an emphasis point, however he made the mistake of thinking that I actually cared about his stupid car, "I think I'll stick to driving."

In a way, I really couldn't blame him, cutting out his speech. There were perks to having a super inventor as a father. Not only were our cars brand new, but Dad made personal adjustments and rebuilt the entire engine systems to both our cars.

Dib's car was nice. It was. He always loved mustangs and so that's what Dad gave him for graduation, but Dib's car was a prototype compared to mine. My car was beautiful and shiny. Black, purple strips, fast but quiet. Problem was, there really weren't many places to drive it in putrid Arizona. Thinking about it, I would likely drive too to get some miles under the hood. I had a police car detector installed after a week of begging Dad, who was opposed to it, and was now free to speed at life threatening amounts if I wished to.

You really wouldn't believe the rush you get after going 100 around a curve.

…Not that I have done that of course.

Well…at least not more than a handful of times. Maybe.

It was settled then. I'd leave for home, and stay there for the holiday season with Dib and my father.

"Plus, driving in means that I'll be able to stop should anything suspicious happen. There's this spot through Indiana I want to take a peek at. Folks say it's haunted so I'd like to do some perimeter tests to see how far the energy field reaches from around the area. I've been building this thesis paper about how Ghosts have a limited power field that we determine as a 'haunted area'. I think this is really just a zone where the ghost can exert whatever power it has. Hopefully I'll be able to get some serious notes over break for my paper."

Dib paused, waiting for me to add some encouragement or whatever, though after a long moment of silence, Dib realized I still had no comments to add to his insane life, and quickly changed the conversation.

"So you flying then?" Dib asked soon after, voice sounding distracted and detached.

"Nah, I'll drive in. The airplane doesn't stop at Bloaty's and I've got to get there somehow."

"Bloaty's? Gaz that's just….that's just sad."

I rolled my eyes, finding my patience short, "So is your stupid head. Anything else Dib?"

"Seesh! I see time away hasn't taken away any of your negativity. And here I thought college would do you good." Dib mumbled, though his mumbling was clear enough to understand.

I smirked to myself, proud that I hadn't lost my touch yet, "You'd be surprised. Being around all these stupid college kids has refined my skills if anything. I've had months to prepare."

Dib gave a light laugh, the moment oddly…bonding…and all those other sibling nuances I tried to avoid.

"Yeah, well don't waste them all now- you might not have any motive to come home. Dad might be heartbroken if you don't show up. It's no secret that you're Daddy's girl Gaz- he really misses you. In fact, he asked me to call you to make sure you could come. So there you are, message delivered."

I didn't like his terminology of 'Daddy's girl' being the fact that I was far from a preppy ditsy blonde, and his sudden seriousness made the conversation take a sharp turn to the solemn. None the less, I could only agree. It was an unspoken rule that we would never mention Dad's favoritism problem.

Dib was Dad's first born. His first son. A scientist. Anybody would naturally assume that if Dad ever had a favorite, it would be Dib, considering all the things they had in common. Dib even had that weird hair spike thing.

However, when he devoted his life to paranormal studies, Dad's interest in Dib quickly dissipated to mere tolerance.

From then on, I was a Princess to Dad. It was like he was blind to my general darkness, addiction to videogames, cruelness to life and all creatures, and my black wardrobe. He spoiled me rotten for as long as I could remember, Dib only getting enough attention to hear that Dad thought he was insane. Luckily, Dib seemed content with that interaction and never complained.

We were a broken, but happy family.

I paused, finally formulating my response that stated I understood, but also break the awkwardness Dib had created, "Yeah yeah I'll be there ok? Happy holidays dork."

He laughed again, and I could almost hear him nodding through the phone, "You too Gaz."

Iiiiiii

"Computer! Rush delivery, I need to order these products and they need to be here NOW."

My computer instantly began pulling up various screens of shipping sites, materials, and space wide ship markets. Finally I was connected to a salesmen from planet Vort. About time.

"Hello Irken solider! I see you are transmitting from a different planet than Irk- are you an invader?"

"I am." I stated quickly, grabbing my drawings and showing them up to the computer transmission, "And I have to get to Irk for a meeting with the Tallest in a short amount of time. Either way, my ship is not going to be able to move fast enough, so I'll be building a new ship from scratch. This horrid planet doesn't have hardly any of the supplies I need for building. Do you have…any of these?" I held up the list, finding it easier to just let him read down the list instead of trying to explain it all myself.

After a moment, the receptionist nodded, "And you are in luck, not only do we have the supplies, but because Irk and Vort have done so much building together, we give all Invaders a special discount! That and the fact that you wiped out most of our civilization means we are scared to death of you" The man gave a nervous laugh and a small twitch, but soon turned back to the screen with his wide smile.

"Good good," I nodded my head, not terribly worried about the cost, "I need it rushed delivered- the faster you can get it here the better." I explained, setting my list down and grabbing my monies card.

The man nodded, grabbing some folders, flipping through them and scribbling something across the pages, beginning to list off options, "Alright we have the platinum package which costs around-"

"Just get the products here- I don't care what the cost is- the fastest, safest option is what I want! Give to Zim!"

The man grinned, slapping the folders closed, "That is what we like to hear! Your products are on the way and should be arriving-"

Suddenly a loud boom shook the entire ground, causing me to fly into the air and land in a rather ungraceful manner

"-Right about now! Pleasure doing business with you!" The transmission automatically cut off, leaving me running towards the elevator with great excitement.

"Gir! Gir get up here! We have building to do!"

Iiiiii

I sighed, slumping in the uncomfortable wooden chair and biting back a growl.

Zim said to be in the library at five pm sharp. It was now five twenty, and he wasn't here.

He stressed to be on time, so I got off the phone, cleaned up the apartment and got ready. I had even left early so I'd be certain I wouldn't be late. What good did that do if he didn't show up?

I shook my head firmly, closing my math book and shoving it into my backpack. This was horrible! Finals would be coming up just next week and if I didn't get some form of help I'd get the joy of going home to tell Dad that I failed math class. There was no way I could do that! Dad was paying for everything and more, the least I could do was at least pass my classes. But how could I do that when my tutor was a stupid green alien that wasn't even here?

I gave a grunt, standing up sharply.

Well.

If Zim just expected me to just give up and go home, he didn't seem to know me that well.

No.

I wasn't one to give up and just away like a kicked puppy. Not at all. I knew where Zim lived and I was not afraid to go over to him and make him understand his mistake of standing me up like this. I really hadn't been plan on going to Zim's house tonight, but generally, what did it matter? No one really cared who was where or why, in fact, I could likely never step foot in my apartment again and no one would think to ask why as long as I showed up for class each day.

I threw my backpack on, pulling up my hood and walking out of the library. I was surprised that the air had a slight chill to it, I mean, sure it was December, but it was also Arizona. Did it even snow in Arizona? I wasn't sure, and in all reality, I didn't really want to find out. At the moment, I was far too upset. I planned on getting to Zim's house, and then throttling him.

I would probably have killed him, but I still needed him to tutor me. Throttling would have to do for now.

Lucky little Zim.

As I walked to his house, fighting off the chill the air brought, I mumbled promises to myself about what I would do once I reached his place. I was just so mad at him! I had gone all the way to his house, got knocked out, earned a concussion, and damn it he would help me pass that math class if it killed him!

I began to think back about his house and the strange details that seemed to surround him. His base was no longer a childish playground. It was a dangerous space of technology that would be used to bring the earth to destruction. I frowned slightly, thinking back to when we were all kids back in middle school. I had never helped Dib in his quests to stop Zim because there was little harm that Zim could do at the time.

Now though, I wasn't so certain.

I frowned to myself further. I didn't mean to make things personal, but with Zim trying to end all human life, didn't that mean he was trying to end _my_ life? My family's lives? What would happen if the time came? I had admitted to myself that I did see Zim as my friend, but if the time came, would I work together with Dib to try to stop him? Would I turn a blind eye and watch the world be destroyed?

I didn't know.

It's just with Zim I was out of my element. When I was around him, no matter how hard I tried, there was no writing him off. Believe me, I had tried at the beginning of the school year. With the things he did and said, he had to have your attention. As the first semester passed by, I was used to him being around. Now with finals coming up, I _needed_ him to be around.

Even if he thought he was skipping out on this teaching session, he would not be getting out of it so easily. I was determined to pass that test, even if it meant tracking him down like this and demanding he teach me.

Moving down the road and finally approaching his house, I walked past Zim's garden gnomes, surprised that they didn't even move or twitch as I walked past them. Were his defenses down or something? That was unlike Zim to ever have his defenses compromised, however it didn't really matter. No one would ever break into his place, locked or unlocked. It was far too creepy looking.

I shrugged it off, in the end not really caring enough to ask too many questions, I opened the door and moved into the open area. The place was quiet, and it appeared as if his defenses really were off. No buzzers sounded, no alarms, nothing at all. Thinking about it, it might have been nice for something to go off. It would get Zim's attention and then he rush up here and I'd give him one giant slice of my opinion, topped with all the violence I could minister on him without causing death or paralysis. Besides, considering what happened the last time I was here, I had no intentions of going back down into the lower levels of his base. I had a goal to pass the math test, not a death wish.

"Zim! Zim get up here!" I hollered after a moment upon realizing that there was no one up on this floor but me.

I was expecting some form of response, however after a long moment of silence, then random metallic banging and electrical sounds, I knew Zim was in the lower levels of his base. Was he building something? What was he doing down there? That's where he had to be, if he wasn't up here or in the library. I walked towards the toilet kitchen, staring down into the porcelain bowl in indecision.

There was no way I was going back down there. Not after last time.

"Zim! Seriously! Get up here!" I shouted even louder into the bowl, stomping my foot against the ground hoping that he would hear my stomping at least.

Still no good.

Dammit Zim! This was so frustrating! Why wasn't he there at the library like he said he would be? Why did Zim forget about me? As much as I wanted to pretend it didn't bother me, it did! Zim promised he would be there and he wasn't.

Zim _was_ my friend. Friends didn't do that to each other.

Why did he do that to me?

I gave a sad sigh, allowing myself to feel the disappointment and dejection I was trying to deny that I was feeling. Who was I kidding anyhow? Zim was pretty much my only friend out here, and for that note, even that became confusing sometimes. We had both patched each other up after strange freakish events, would randomly 'bump into each other' with no real purpose in mind… When I was around Zim, I found that I was more relaxed, that I didn't have to keep my guard up so high.

I growled in frustration, moving back to the living room and crashing onto the couch. I was mad still, but more so I was just so disappointed. I don't know what I had expected out of tonight, but I was looking forward to just being able to hang out with him. Casually. Not because one of us are bleeding or unconscious, but simply because we are friends spending time together. I most definitely hadn't expected to end up on his couch, wondering where he was.

After a moment, I shifted into a laying position, staring at the wall in boredom. Something told me I would be waiting for him for a while. Oh well, I would be patient if I had to. I'd just wait for a couple hours and if he still didn't show, I'd walk home and crash. After all, tomorrow was Saturday, so I didn't have to wake up so early. I could afford to sleep in if tonight ended up being a late night for me.

I turned on the TV after a while, watching little puppets dance across the screen. I had gotten bored and still there was no word from Zim, or even Gir. To help pass the time I had turned on the TV and willed myself to be patient a while longer. It was so interesting how Zim had his TV set up. By having so many different screens playing at the exact same time, it was as if your brain was rotting from the inside out. There was just so much going on I couldn't stop staring really. Everything just faded away as the hours went by. I can't even tell you what I was watching actually. It just blended together.

I vaguely remember drifting to sleep.

Vaguely remember moving, flying maybe.

I remember his red eyes and mumbling, but not really anything else.

And after that, I don't remember anything at all.

I was asleep again. I didn't know where I was or if I was even in Zim's house anymore, but I remember Zim. He had finally showed up for our scheduled get together.

I was content with that.

Iiiiiii

A/N: Merry Chirstmas IZ fans!

This is a cute little chapter where we get to see a bit of development in both the plot and out little Gaz.

Paid advertisement (cough cough)- Please check out my new Danny Phantom fanfic if you have time. It is so discouraging that I am getting practically no feedback on it, and I really would like to share this story with more people than myself. Either way, thank you all so much for your support and comments. Merry Christmas, happy new years! I have enjoyed writing this story for you, and will continue to strive to keep you coming back for more.

Wishing you a merry Christmas :D

Midnight


	7. The Girl with the Purple Hair

Hello readers!

A lot of time has passed by, no? This story has been on a long hiatus but I have never forgotten it for a moment. I'm just sorry it took this long to update. Now in response to previous comments, let's get an update going.

First and foremost, my spelling. (sighs) Yeah, I know. My spelling is simply dreadful. A lot of the issue is because I used to write at three in the morning and post without reviewing it. I can promise you my writing has greatly improved since that point and while I can't guarantee my stories will be completely devoid of errors, they will at least be free of stupid mistakes that you saw in previous chapters. That being said, **I have revised the previous chapters and there are differences. **When I say differences, I mean more than spelling. They have been fully revised, every single chapter.

Considering the fact that it has been so long any way, I suggest going back and rereading if you've the time.

Next item on the agenda is my niece, Hosanna. It is actually because of her that you are getting this chapter. I realized that it was while writing this story when I found out that I would soon be dubbed 'Aunt' and she officially (April 6th) is one year old! It seemed only fair that you guys get benefit from her growth as well. Happy Birthday to my niece Hosanna!

I'm excited to keep bringing you guys more; you have all been very supportive and patient with me so I don't want to disappoint!

Iiiiiii

I woke slowly, far too comfortable to actually get up for the day. Curling into a ball, I fisted the soft blankets in my grasp, giving a large yawn before rolling over onto my side and clearing my mind so sleep could claim me once again.

"Don't even think about it Gaz, it's already ten in the morning."

I made a face at the voice, clamping my eyes shut as I gripped the blankets tighter. As long as I just ignored him, I was still groggy enough to fall back asleep. Zim would just have to deal with it until them.

Wait, Zim?

I flung up out of bed, still half asleep though my mind slowly started processing the world around me. That's right, I was at Zim's house still.

"Wha- what?" I mumbled back in response, squinting my eyes as I adjusted to the light in the room, "I fell asleep?"

"Something like that. When I found you, you were hanging off the couch, half draped across the floor so I moved you in here. It may be a bit unfamiliar to you, but it's better than the couch."

I gave a slow nod, looking around the room that Zim had brought me to.

"What is this place?" I asked, rubbing my eyes tiredly and forcing myself into alertness. This room wasn't like the other rooms in his house. Most of the rooms had been decorated with posters and other earth memorabilia; however this room seemed to be more functional than just for show. Unlike the other rooms in his house, this room actually seemed to be lived in. There were papers scattered across a desk, clothes lying on the ground… Was this his bedroom?

"Here? Why, my quarters of course Gaz human. Don't tell me you actually believed my house consisted only of a living room and kitchen?"

My lack of response told him his answer, which sent him laughing haughtily at my expense.

I rolled my eyes, expressively crossing my arms as I stared at him. Now that I was fully awake again, I was able to recall the reasons that had lead me to his place to begin with, as well as the emotions that came with it.

"Where were you yesterday?" I demanded shortly, frowning further to show him that I was serious. He had promised me that we would get together at the library at five; it hadn't been like I had just showed up at his house last night unwarranted. If that were the case I would understand if I caught him at a bad time, but he was the one that scheduled our meeting to begin with, and he pulled a no-show.

"Yesterday?" Zim asked, suddenly not looking as sure as he had a moment ago, "Why does it matter to you?"

I moved my hands in confusion, shaking my head in wonder, "Why? Because you promised you would meet me at the library!" I iterated, "And you weren't there!"

I folded my arms back around my body, glaring narrowly at Zim as he took my words in. At first he seemed confused, but as he replayed the situation in his mind, his eyes went wide.

"I expected you to be there! You could have at least_ tried_ to show up, or even text me to say you wouldn't be coming. Instead you made no effort at all and I want to know why." I demanded further, pursing my lips as I waited. I had been so upset at him yesterday, and I still was. It was simply _common courtesy_ to show up to a preset date like that, and he didn't even try to tell me he wouldn't be there.

"Well?" I pressed, staring him down.

"I..." Zim began, though seemed to loose his voice as he looked downward.

My mouth dropped open in shock.

He forgot. He actually forgot about the entire plan.

In that moment, I could feel my eyes start to sting as emotions began to wash over me.

"Oh…that's how it is." I mumbled, not surprised to hear my voice had lost all of its previous fire. I was such a fool. What illusion had I been painting myself into? I was just so _stupid_ sometimes. There was a reason I didn't make friends and chase after relationships with others, and this was why. I didn't need people and in the end it always led to being let down.

I knew better…but still…

I gave a sigh, shrugging, "I just thought that I was at least worth the phone call…I don't know. It's just that I was really looking forward to…"

I stood up from the bed, throwing up my hands slightly as though symbolically throwing in the towel, "You know what, never mind. I'm sorry I've troubled you, ok? I'll see you in class." I stated dejectedly, turning towards the door in a hurried fashion. I would not cry in front of Zim. I was ok with him knowing he could get me mad. I was ok with him knowing that I had considered him a friend.

I was not ok with him knowing he could hurt me, and I intended to keep it that way.

As I moved towards the door, I was shoved against the wall, Zim suddenly in front of me, holding my shoulders firmly.

Masking my emotions as anger, I glared at him as my back throbbed from the force, "Zim what the hell?"

Zim stared down at me for a small moment, and then leaned down, pressing his lips firmly against my own.

At first I just stood there in shock for a lingering moment, not believing what was occurring. Zim was….but why?

Pushing him back with every ounce of strength I had, I stood there for a moment longer, eyes wide as I brought my hand subconsciously to my face, fingers tracing over my lips in confusion.

What had just…

Zim kissed me…

"The fuck?"

I stared at him for a long moment, awkward silence filling the air as Zim watched me. What did he think he was doing? He had been on the earth long enough to know that his actions weren't just a 'friendly gesture', or normal by any means.

"No! You don't just…Ugh!" I spat out in alarm, turning on my heels and headed towards the door again.

"Gaz…wait."

I paused in the doorway at his voice, those two words alone somehow making everything worse. Wait? Why? For what? What was he wanting from me? I was just so confused and I couldn't seem to put anything in perspective at the moment. Zim didn't show up yesterday. I understood that. In response to that, I went over to his house to find him. I understood that too, but somewhere between that and two seconds ago, I must have missed something.

How did it go from a library meeting to Zim backing me into a wall and kissing me?

What did this mean?

What if he had meant to kiss me, knowing full well what it meant? Did that mean he…?

Before I could even try to register anything else, I was running. I ran out of his bedroom, trying to find out where to go to get out of this house, out of this area- away from Zim. I just had to get out. Pausing just long enough to get my bearings, I moved down the hall and bolted out the door, too scared for even a second glance.

I just needed to think. Where did it all go wrong? How did this even happen? One moment we were just kids in school and now…

I pumped my legs harder, determined to run too fast to keep thinking about it all. I wanted to sort things out, I needed to sort things out…but I just couldn't. Not now. Not when I could run away from the confrontation and the issue all together. Break was right around the corner, right? Considering Zim always skipped class, I could avoid him then, and by the time break was over, I wouldn't even care about it any more.

It would just be another closed chapter in my life and nothing more.

Running towards the apartment complex, I moved towards my car, grabbing the spare key I kept and soon slamming it into the ignition.

I just needed to keep moving. There maybe nothing worth driving to in Arizona as I had claimed so many times before, but anything, even nothing, was better than where I was right now.

Slamming my foot on the accelerator, I headed away from the college and moved towards the expressway.

One ten. One twenty. One thirty.

Faster and Faster.

I knew it was stupid to speed so extremely; it was simply asking to be thrown in jail. No matter how fast I went though, it wasn't enough. No matter how fast I pressed my car to go, it was never fast enough to escape my own mind.

I knew running wouldn't solve anything.

I knew it was childish to just tear away and refuse to face the issue, but I was afraid. I was afraid of what would happen if I stayed.

Would Zim apologize, claim it was all a mistake and that he should have been there? Would he have looked down at me, towering over me like he always did, and kiss me again? Would I have melted into his hold, allowing myself to not only accept our friendship, but the possibility of something different? Something more?

I didn't want to know.

One fifity.

One sixty.

It was never fast enough.

Iiiii

I slammed my fist into the wall, ignoring the immediate pain the action brought.

Difficult.

Gaz had always been, and would always be, difficult.

I knew that, but for just this _once_, I wanted things to go the way I had planned for them to.

I hadn't intended on not showing up the previous night, but I had been working on my ship relentlessly and lost track of time. She really didn't understand how tied for time I had been in the first place. I only had a small window of time left before I needed to be ready to depart of irk and the fact I scheduled time out of my night should show her enough that I did value her.

Perhaps she was right, I should have called her or something, but by the time I had realized how late I was, she had already been asleep on the couch. I didn't see the point in waking her to tell her what she already knew, so I let her sleep, or whatever you call what she was doing. She had shifted across the couch until she was actually hanging off of it, upside down in fact.

At first I just planned on leaving her there, but something made me change my mind that I couldn't quite place. Either way, the need to take care of her was overwhelmingly strong and leaving her on the floor was no longer an option.

I smirked slightly, remembering the previous night. As I picked her up, she stirred slightly, a gentle smile at her lips as she saw me. To my surprise, she wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling against me and laying her head against my shoulder and falling back asleep almost immediately.

It was frustrating to me. The Gaz I knew awake and asleep were two different people so it seemed. When she was asleep, she was so trusting and was ok with my being there for her. Awake however…

I sighed, looking at the door to my bedroom, still swaying slightly from where Gaz had ran past it. I couldn't get over how betrayed she looked, as though my advances were unwelcome to her.

Perhaps they were.

Gaz had never been close to people for as long as I knew her. What made me think that I was any different from other people she came in contact with?

I shook my head at the thought.

No. I knew better than to believe that. Others hadn't seen her the way I had.

I moved towards my bed, allowing myself to fall back on the material. I stared up into the ceiling, replaying Gaz's words in my head.

She had been so angry- that was understandable I suppose- but it was more than just anger. She was offended that I wasn't there on a personal level, as though I chose to not be there _because_ of her. When she turned to go at first, she looked so conflicted and hurt. She had taken my lack of response as some form of verification that she was nothing to me.

Even at that moment, I wasn't sure where I would place Gaz on terms of a personal relationship, but the only thing I could think of was that if Gaz walked out of the room, I would loose her.

In that moment, memories of Gaz flooded my mind. I thought over the very first session of class we had on the first day of school, to me sitting on her desk while I waited for her to arrive, then her laughing at me in the hallways for weeks when I would tell her about my newest achievements, how frustrated her laughter always made me. I had thought about the night where I broke into her apartment and stayed with her while she cried; how tightly she held me as her dreams plagued her- how tightly I held_ her_ as the hours passed by.

I didn't want to let go.

Before I could even think about what I was doing, I had kissed her.

I closed my eyes, allowing a pained sigh to escape from my lips.

I was _so_ stupid.

What had I been expecting to come from that? Gaz had never showed any interest in me on such a level; at least while she was awake anyhow, and now she might very well ignore me entirely based off her response to my actions. She pushed me back almost instantly, and then went right back to shouting at me. I tried to stop her, but she ran out of the room. Literally.

I frowned again, sitting up from the bed and looking at where Gaz had laid only a few short minutes ago. I could have chased after her. Beating her in a foot race would have been no difficult task for me, but what was the point? She chose to run and that defeated the purpose entirely.

If she stayed here, stayed to listen to me try to explain where she stood in my eyes, then I would have. I would have told her everything if she had only let me.

Something had changed in me that night at her apartment. Something instinctively made me want her as my own, and wanted her to belong to me. At that moment, it was selfish, but something changed again the night I saw her cry for the first time. Things became so different to me. That night, I became far more attached to Gaz than I could have thought possible.

I cared for her, and wanted to be there for her, to protect her.

I wasn't sure just how deep this attachment went, but at the moment, ignoring it or pretending it didn't exist was only making things more complicated than they needed to be. I did care about Gaz, and I was upset that this morning turned out the way it did.

If only I had watched the time better then…

I gave another sigh, knowing nothing would change my current reality.

I had crossed a line today, and it just might have cost me the one thing I cared for on the entire earth.

I had to convince myself it was for the best though. I did serve me right honestly. She was a human. I had no right even allowing such an attachment to form; it was dangerous to the mission. Things may not be down to the wire now, but in time, I would have the tools I needed to destroy the earth. What would I do then?

Standing up, I moved towards the closet, grabbing out a new set of clothes and changing into them as though on auto pilot. In all honesty, I wanted nothing more than to fall back onto the bed and continue to dwell on this issue, but much to my dismay, I simply didn't have the luxury of sitting idly.

I had only eighteen days left before I had counsel with the tallest, so that left only a handful of days to prepare the ship and gather all the supplies that I would need for the journey back. Even with the enhanced speed and capability the ship would have once completed, I still expected the journey would take a good six or seven days from the time I left earth.

"Take me to the equipment room" I mumbled lowly, stepping under the couch and moving towards the ship, starting back on where I had left off from the night before.

Gir soon appeared from one of the storage boxes, shouting out a 'Surprise!' as he landed on my head.

I shook him off, not responding further as I grabbed a wrench and began reviewing the blueprint for the ship. I just was not in a mood to entertain Gir today. I was not in a mood to do much of anything in fact, but I had never been the type to run away from responsibility.

No, I would just have to work through it, like it or not.

"Aw, whys you mad master?" Gir asked as he landed on the floor, placing his small hands downward and moving up into a handstand before resting upside down on his head.

Looking at the small robot for a moment, I rolled my eyes, finding my patience had grown thin from today's earlier events. "I'm not mad, I'm just not happy today is all. Now quit fooling around, we have work to do."

Gir jumped back onto the ground, moving to where I was and then sitting across the blueprint pages, successfully blocking my view, "You mad." Gir repeated, staring at me in silence for a long moment.

Knowing Gir wouldn't be letting the issue dropped until I gave him an answer, I scoffed, "Fine. That girl with the purple hair and I got into a fight ok? That's it. Now get up." I shoved him off the blueprint pages, lifting the papers off the ground to prevent Gir from sitting on them again.

He was such a frustrating thing to be around sometimes.

"She'll be back!" Gir squeaked innocently, and I couldn't help the dry smile that crossed my lips at how oblivious he was. If only it were so simple, the way he seemed to see things.

No, Gaz wouldn't be coming back. I had seen it in her eyes, how bewildered she was that I even dared to make such an advance on her. No, as much as I may have wanted her to come back, things just weren't as black and white as Gir saw them to be.

"She's pretty, that girl with the purple hair!" Gir exclaimed after a moment of silence, causing me to shake my head fondly.

"Yes Gir. The girl with the purple hair is pretty. Very pretty."

Iiiii

Dib all but dropped the phone to the ground upon hearing his sister's words.

Why was she calling _him_?

Gaz had always been so self sufficient in her past and never asked for help or advice from anyone. Of all the times for her to ask him for help, why did it have to be an issue like this?

Frowning, Dib sat down on the couch, not certain how to go about Gaz's predicament. He was reluctant to respond at all. It was just so awkward for him. Being her older brother, he had always known this day would come where Gaz would come home, gushing about some boy she had a crush on, but when high school came and went without a single comment about any guys from the school, Dib somehow forgot that Gaz was just as eligible as anyone else out there.

"So he kissed you? Who?" Dib asked, trying to prolong the conversation- carefully. Of all the people to ask about boy problems, why had she called him?

"His name doesn't matter!" Gaz instantly snapped back over the phone, highly defensive about it.

Dib face palmed, wondering how this conversation would play out. He wanted to be there for his little sister, considering she never really asked him for anything growing up, but wouldn't she be better off talking to a fellow girl about things like this? Girls were always so emotional and could subconsciously understand each other, knowing just the right questions to ask. So far, all his questions he had previously asked her ended in a 'none of your business' or something similar.

"Well how did you get over there in the first place?" Dib asked patiently, still not understanding her story fully.

From what he had managed to gather so far, Gaz had gotten in a fight with some boy, and in the heat of the argument, he kissed her, which apparently warranted her to drive off. After ending in whatever desination, she had decided to pull out her phone and give him, her older brother, a call, and demand he tell her why the boy decided to do it.

Dib wasn't sure where to go with her story, but it sounded fairly understandable if the guy liked her. There was just something romantic about arguments, so he had to give kudos to whoever her suitor was for taking her by surprise like that. The fact that she didn't attack him showed that she liked him enough, whether Gaz would admit that to herself or not.

Gaz's response was a long sigh, "Well, that's a long story, but the guy is the same guy that is tutoring me for math, at least supposed to be tutoring me."

"Doesn't surprise me." Dib interjected, earning another harsh reaction from Gaz.

"Just let me finish! We were supposed to meet up at the library but he never came, so I went over to his house to find him-"

"You know where this guy lives? Gaz, are you sure you guys are just friends, if you are allowed to walk in like that uninvited?" Dib added in, shocked that he hadn't heard about this guy before. Gaz had mentioned a tutor the last time they talked on the phone, but he would have never expected it to be anything more than that.

Who would have imagined that the guy seemed to want a relationship with Gaz. The thought wasn't impossible to believe, Dib wasn't oblivious to how well Gaz had grown up; she was beautiful, but it was still such a new concept.

Gaz having a boyfriend. Who would have ever thought?

"Don't be ridiculous; it's complicated. I just happen to know where he lives is all. But either way he wasn't there, and I ended up falling asleep there, which is why I was there this morning. When I woke up, the whole issue just… I don't know-"

"Got out of hand?" Dib offered.

"Exactly." Gaz verified, giving Dib a satisfactory feeling that for once he said something that wasn't automatically wrong in her eyes.

Pausing a moment, Dib moved the phone to his other ear, forcing himself to ask further probing questions that he really didn't want to know the answer to, "So do you…you know…" Dib gave a defeated sigh, "Like him back?"

Dib felt a chill run down his spine, feeling as though he just stepped into unwelcome territory. He didn't want to know these things about her personal life. He would be completely contempt with Gaz staying single and untouched by another man for as long as she lived. The idea of another male somewhere out in the world, wanting something _more_ from Gaz made him so uncomfortable as her older brother. It was his little sister after all, it was in his nature to be protective of her.

He always assumed that if Gaz was in a relationship, they had established an unspoken 'Don't ask don't tell' rule, but he couldn't have been more wrong. Even the _prospect_ of a relationship brought Gaz to call him, asking for advice over what she should do.

What bad luck he seemed to have.

Gaz stayed silent for a long time, and when she finally did respond, she sounded mad again. He really was not good at this so it seemed.

"I don't know! I mean, he's pretty much the only person I know in the whole school. He's fairly dependable and I do enjoy his company but…" She paused, changing the subject defensively, "Look I think you're missing the point of why I called you!"

'Clearly' Dib thought beside himself, listening to Gaz rant further.

"I want to know _why _he kissed me. Why would _you_ pin a girl to the wall and kiss her like that?"

"He pinned you against a wall?" Dib responded in surprise, shocked that anyone even had the guts to be so aggressive with Gaz. Knowing his sister; it would take nothing less than violence to make her notice him, but still. This guy sounded like a good match for her from what he had heard so far, Dib noted to himself after a moment of thought.

"Missing the point again, Dib. You're a guy. What makes you want to kiss a girl?" Gaz repeated, evident she was frustrated by his constant rabbit trailing.

For a moment, Dib stayed silent before laughing slightly at her question, "Why would I kiss a girl? Gaz, because I like her, that's why."

Gaz let his answer sink in, the phone line staying silent for a while before she threw in a 'Whatever', causing Dib to laugh again. As painful as this conversation had been for him, he had to admit it was adorable how flustered this guy had managed to make her. Gaz rarely allowed others to have such an effect on her, and being able to hear Gaz like this was something Dib would treasure for years to come.

Finally, Gaz responded back again, evidently having decided how to counter to his reasons, "That's impossible. You don't understand this person. If you knew who they were, you would agree they are _incapable_ of noticing anyone but themselves!"

Dib shook his head smugly, carefully hiding the amusement from his voice, "I don't know about that Gaz. This guy seems to have noticed you- I think that's clear to see, but here's the real question. Will I be meeting this guy at Christmas? Dad would be shocked."

"Hell no!" Gaz spat into the phone, amusing Dib further, "There is no way I am taking this guy back home with me, that's more drama than you or I signed up for. And on top of that, it's not like that anyways."

Dib rolled his eyes, strangely enjoying the conversation much more than he believed possible. It was clear she was in denial. She liked this guy, and he liked her- it was only a matter of time before something happened between them.

From what Dib could gather about the stranger, he seemed likeable enough. He did well in school, Gaz had mentioned he was a fellow inventor, and best of all, knew exactly how to handle Gaz. He didn't let her push him around, and left her this confused and flustered by a mere kiss.

Perhaps it was too early in the game to meet him during the holidays, but perhaps Gaz had met her match in life.

About time honestly. Dib was beginning to think there was nobody on the whole earth that would suit her, but he had been wrong so it seemed.

Shifting across the couch, Dib shrugged, "Look Gaz, sorry if it's not what you want to hear, but I don't know what else to tell you. I think he likes you and wants to pursue a relationship with you. That's really all there is to it. What happens now is all up to you."

Gaz grumbled back a response, and soon after ended the phone call, sounding more torn than she had when she first called him.

Setting the phone down, Dib smiled.

This holiday season would prove to be an interesting one without a doubt.

Iiiiii

I gave a sigh, looking at the workings of my ship proudly.

It wasn't finished, but the most of the framework had been set, as well as some of the outward designing. The hardest part would be when I started working on the engine, as a lot of the pieces were very intricate by design. I would need to take great care in it's assembling to say the least, though I wasn't at all worried. I felt very confident in my skill when it came to technology, so intricate or not, I could handle it with ease.

Thinking about the upcoming week of school, I mentally began plotting out how I would go about my time tables. Starting next week, all the teachers would start reviewing the finals that were scheduled for Friday, the last day school day before break. I knew it wouldn't be wise to miss all class next week, after all, I had to appear just as nervous about finals as the rest of the student body, but putting up such an act was really inconvenient this time around.

I had much more important things to do than worry about finals that I could likely do in my sleep.

I frowned slightly, thinking about Gaz. She was very apprehensive about her finals as well, especially the math test. It was hard to believe such basic information was the cause of her worry, but none the less I couldn't help but feel bad for her being so stressed out about it.

Nothing I could do at this point though. I'd wager to say she wouldn't let me within ten feet of her after this morning.

I had spent the entire day working on my ship, forcing all my frustration into getting the task done. Surprisingly, it had been by far the most productive day I had had in a while, the ship finally taking shape instead of various pieces of materials lying across the ground.

My plan was to have the ship finished by Wednesday next week, and then run tests flights each day to work out the remaining bugs before leaving for Irk on Saturday. That would give me a full week for travel, plus a few days on the home planet before my meeting with the Tallest.

I was still pressed for time and couldn't afford to slack off, but all in all, things were coming together nicely which was a relief. The day had started out rough- really rough, but I was happy that at least some good had managed to come of it in the end.

Catching my attention, Gir jumped up on the ship, staring at his reflection in the windshield, laughing hysterically before falling to the ground and jumping back up again.

"It's so shiny!" the robot exclaimed, looking past his reflection until he could see me in the glass, "I can see you!"

I rolled my eyes, grabbing the robot off the half made ship, not as tense as I had been earlier in the day, "Off the ship Gir. You can play later when it's not so fragile. I don't trust you around electronics, but hopefully when we get to Irk, you can get an upgrade too. No offense, but you're kind of broken."

Gir didn't seem to care about my words one way or another, only laughing harder before running off to the elevator and disappearing to the upward levels of my home.

Turning back towards my ship, I looked it over again, giving a nod of approval as I compared the product with the blueprint I had created for it. Everything really was coming together nicely, and the more I looked at the design, the more excited I was about the ship.

I had taken a lot of ideas from how Tak had made hers, but added my own adjustments to it. The ship was at this point geared for speed, but in time, I could adjust it further to make it into a deadly weapon.

As I began putting away my materials and organizing what I would need for tomorrow, a voice made me stop dead in my tracks.

"Uh…Zim…are you…are you down there?"

My eyes went wide and I could feel my stomach churn nervously.

Gaz.

….She came back.

I gave a sigh, instantly nervous about the events to come. I wanted to be excited, but I couldn't forget the look she gave me this morning. I was so certain she hated me.

I crossed my arms apprehensively, knowing that I would have to confront her sooner or later. If she had come all the way here, there was no getting rid of her until she was satisfied. This much I knew for a fact about Gaz.

Slowly, I made my way towards the elevator, preparing myself for whatever was to come.

I had no clue what I would say to her. There was so much left unsaid, but when the opportunity presented itself, what would I say to her? All I knew was that I didn't want to loose her. I couldn't handle the idea of living out my life on earth without having Gaz around in one way or another.

She was just so interesting. I wanted her, I accepted that, but it went so much deeper than physical attraction could ever account for.

Watching as the couch moved, I moved into the living room, looking around for where Gaz was. My attention was moved towards the kitchen, where Gaz was leaning over the toilet bowl, staring down into it as though waiting for me to appear. Giving a small chuckle, I moved towards her, knocking on the table to alert her of my presence.

She gave a small jump at the noise, slowly turning around.

God, she was just so beautiful. How I hadn't noticed it years ago was beyond me.

"Gaz, you're back… Is there something I can help you with?" I asked after a long moment of silence, not sure how to initiate the conversation with her. I had no idea what she had wanted me to say to her, but I was just so surprised she had come back.

I was so relieved.

At first, she didn't even look me in the eye, instead adverted her gaze onto the floor, digging her shoe into the floor in a nervous manner, "Well I went back to my apartment and realized I left my backpack here, so I'll be needing it back."

It felt as though someone had punched me in the gut when I heard her words. Her backpack. That's why she was here; she needed her backpack, not me. I had been foolish to even hope that she was back because she wanted to be. Even looking at her now verified that. She looked so uncertain and confused, just as she did this morning.

Why did I kiss her?

Why?

"Right. I'll go grab it for you, just a second…" I mumbled, not wanting to make the conversation any more awkward than it had to be. As I turned around, Gaz took a step forward, grabbing my arm.

"Wait."

I paused in step, turning back towards her. I could feel the shock across my face, though I didn't care to mask it. Gaz held onto my arm, a faint blush tainting her cheeks, "I uh…still need math help Zim. You promised."

She looked up at me, and somehow in her eyes, I could see that everything would be ok. She was accepting what had happened this morning, and was here once more.

I gave a warm grin, nodding in silence as she released my arm.

"Right then." I stated, a warm feeling spreading across my whole body. I knew better than to try anything else on her, but I could not describe how relieved I was. Gaz was still here, and still willing to be there for me.

I would not let that go so easily, not as long as she was willing to stay.

As I walked away, I paused again, speaking over my shoulder, "Gaz…before we begin I just…You are worth the phone call, okay? I'm sorry."

I moved again, headed towards my room to grab her backpack, not missing the words Gaz said as I walked away.

"Thank you."

iiiiiiiiiiiii

Happy Birthday Hosanna!

I hope this chapter was worth the wait guys, I feel it is.

I really cannot stress how grateful I am that you guys have been so supportive of me and this story. If it weren't for that support, I can guarantee this story would have been dropped a long time ago, but here I am, still working on it and writing more to this day. You guys have been wonderful and supportive and I hope to relay that I honestly appreciate it.

Happy Easter as well, and I promise I will update again soon!


	8. Tension

Great news everyone!

This year, I am going to DoomCon 2012 in LA, California! I was looking at my vacation time and decided to actually take myself on vacation this year, and my sights landed on InvaderCon. I didn't get to go to last year's and thought I had missed out forever, but that is not the case! I am hoping to be able to learn much more about the series, and who knows- maybe Nick might actually bring Invader Zim back? We can only hope.

As you can see, life really doesn't slow down. I work a full time job now, and am no longer in college, but I actually wouldn't have it any other way. Officially, I live in my own place now, where it's just me and my cat, Kikwi. (Yes, from Skyward Sword. Happy you caught that.)

I have a lot to look forward to when it comes to not only the summer, but also this story. It's going to be a lot of fun! Well, enough about me. Onto the next chapter!

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

I place my hand near my eyes, sighing lightly as I tried to think over a new way of explaining the equation. I hadn't been looking forward to something as mundane as math tutoring, however I couldn't have possibly imagined how truly vexing the session would be.

Being honest with myself, I had been expecting that I would become frustrated with Gaz for not being able to understand such a simple concept, however the more I listened to her explain where her confusion laid, I found that my frustrations were in fact geared towards the teachings she had received in the past.

It was no wonder that Gaz had done so poorly; she didn't understand math in the slightest. The very concept the humans had of numbers were completely skewed, and I found I had no idea how to explain a proper mindset to her.

Humans taught numbers and numeric functions as separate entities of life, to a point where it almost seemed that learning math formulas were irrelevant to daily functions. In class, I had often heard classmates ask the teacher something to the effect of 'When will I actually use this in real life?'

It was clear that humans didn't have a basic understanding of the mere purpose of numbers in and of themselves. Equations had been created by observations; a way to track one's life progress around them. Math was not a simple addition to life, it was tied explicitly to each and every area of life, be it politics, manufacturing, cost of living – everything revolved around the numbers behind the situation at hand.

Not that I had personally ever attended any form of schools on Irk – all knowledge needed was instilled in me upon receiving my Pak – but I imagined that if I had to, they would have taught math as it applied to that individual case, instead of segregating it as something other than what it was, and therefore destroy all meaning the numbers had behind it.

For example, instead of having a 'math' class, the importance of rations could be shown in Life Sciences, where balancing rations would be very relevant to the students, instead of sitting down for hours and learning what a ratio was and wondering why it even mattered.

Humans were just so illogical.

"Gaz, you're looking at it the wrong way." I stated, grabbing the pencil from her and erasing all her previous work, earning an equally frustrated huff from Gaz. She had not been enjoying this process either so it appeared, but at three am, there was little that seemed enjoyable so I didn't take her disapproval personally.

We had been working on the most recent homework assignment now, and after three hours of work, I had only managed to bring her through half of it without actually doing the work for her. I had thought she had finally begun to get the hang of it, however the equation had an extra variable in it and it seemed to throw off her understanding, regardless its simplicity.

Grabbing the math book, I leaned over her, directing her attention to the graph, "See, the graph is a bell curve, meaning that it will have variables in it, a high and a low."

"Obviously."

"So at this point, we plot out the points were the lines are, looks like the two points are (5, 2) and (-2, -3). So in this case, we have x as five and negative two, and y as two and negative three."

Gaz grabbed the pencil back from me, scribbling the coordinated down, looking at the graph, then at the equation below it, all while tapping her pencil down impatiently, "But what about the extra y that the equation has in it? I don't understand where it would fit in the graph; I mean is there another graph point? Why is it a curved like that? Wouldn't it be a line graph, considering it could be three different plot points if there are two y's?"

I frowned, rewriting the equation on the paper, combining the variables as I spoke, "It shouldn't be that difficult to work around, human. First you simplify the equation, add all the variables together and make sure they are in proper order with the formula. Once you have to coordinates, you can plug it back into the equation and solve…like…so." I paused slightly, "Just make sure you follow your order of operations and you should be able to come to the proper solution."

I circled the answer, smiling inwardly at the narrowed expression Gaz gave me before staring down at the paper.

"That's stupid."

Smirking, I leaned back, moving my legs around to a more comfortable position, watching as Gaz scrutinized my every move before finally turning back to the homework and scowling, "Your hand writing is sloppy." She mumbled, closing the math book with a note of finality.

Pushing the book away from herself, Gaz stood up, pulling at the pony tail in her hair until her hair fell down around her shoulders again. She sighed, closing her eyes and stretching slightly, "I don't think I can cripple myself through another graph, so I'm calling it a night. I'm tired anyhow."

I looked up at her, feeling a sly smile twist across my face, "Running from a challenge, I'd expect nothing less from a human."

Gaz quirked an eyebrow, staring down at me defensively, "Please. I can only stand so much of your arrogance in a single setting is all."

I shrugged, the smile still across my face, "Well if you're so sure. Now as for tomorrow, I do have work to get done, but if I start now I should have some time in the afternoon to continue."

"Alright, so I'll just head back to my apartment for a few hours and hopefully wake up in time to get back here. See you tomorrow I guess?"

I stood up from the floor, rolling my eyes as my smile fell into a scowl, "Don't be ridiculous human. It's already so late in the night so there's no need for you to go back to your apartment – especially if you're just going to wake up to come right back. You can just sleep here."

Gaz looked towards me, a doubtful look across her face as she thought over my words. After a moment, I noticed her face flush slightly and she adverted her gaze from mine, staring back down into the floor, "Zim. You know I can't do that."

I couldn't help but feel confusion at her words for a moment, almost instantly wondering why she couldn't. Apparently I already knew why? Thinking through everything I knew about human culture, I found myself smirking deviously as I realized why she was being hesitant. Ah. It wasn't 'proper' for her to spend time at my house, or morally correct according to social standards, but what was surprising to me was the fact that Gaz cared at all.

I found her apprehension to be quite amusing actually.

Walking towards Gaz and moving behind her, I placed my hands firmly across her forearms, leaning down until I was practically buried in her neck, close to the shell of her ear. For a moment I simply stayed there, relishing the sound of her breathing, now intensified as her nerves began to take over at my close proximity. I couldn't help the chuckle that escaped my lips. Gaz was so very interesting.

"Ah but Gaz human, you have already slept here before, why can't you now?" I paused, allowing my voice to soften invitingly as I watched her shiver from my words, "Or has something…_changed_…between now and then?"

After a long moment of silence where Gaz gave no other form of response, I furthered my request, "I don't exactly need the same level of rest that you do human, so if it makes a difference, I'll be down in my base for most of the night."

Gaz moved her arms, signaling for me to drop my hold, turning around towards me, her body so close I could feel heat radiating from her. Her face was flushed a deep red, though her eyes did little to reflect her nerves, glaring up into my own, "Fine Zim, but only because it's convenient for me to stay, you got that?"

I shrugged innocently, smiling all the same as though she had somehow issued me a challenge, "Whatever you say."

"Good." She nodded firmly, taking a quick glance over her shoulder as she moved down the hall, eyeing me suspiciously before disappearing out of sight.

Moving towards the kitchen, I shook my head fondly, trying to start the process of mentally shifting my focus from simple math equations to complex engineering the required extreme precision.

That interaction hadn't quite turned out as I thought it would. I had expected Gaz to stay on the couch, or ask for a blanket or pillow or something, but instead she had defaulted to sleep in my bedroom, most likely automatically assuming that's where she was expected to sleep.

I smiled beside myself as I moved towards my labs, knowing that just feet above me would be a most interesting Gaz, sleeping in _my_ bed.

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Turning off the lights, I felt my way around in the darkness until I finally came to the edge of the bed, crawling up onto it and burrowing fully under the covers in a self conscious manner. I had gotten ready for bed, forcing my nerves to be calm as I tried to justify my sleeping at Zim's house _again_.

The first time I had been unconscious, and so my staying had been no fault of my own. The second time I fell asleep and didn't wake up until morning – a complete accident – but this time was nothing like before. What excuse did I have this time? I didn't have a concussion; I knew very well where I was, and that my intentions were to stay, willingly.

I felt a number of questions rise in my head at that. Alien or not, I was choosing to stay at a boy's house. Dad would be mortified if he knew, and Dib…

What would _Dib_ say?

I pulled the covers up to my nose, wishing to drown out the thoughts in my head and sleep through whatever emotions were bothering me, but I found that no matter how hard I tried, I simply could not clear my mind of its nagging thoughts. This was _asking_ for something bad to happen. I found myself reviewing the events that occurred just this morning, in this very room in fact.

Zim kissed me.

I was thankful the alien was not in fact around me, as I could feel my face burning intensely as I thought about how forceful he had been; how much I _liked_ that forceful nature. In my memories, I could still feel the pressure he had on my shoulders as he pressed me into the wall, red eyes staring heatedly into mine, before he leaned forward, pressing himself against me, lips claiming mine with a possessive intensity.

Bringing a hand to my lips, I traced imaginary lines from where Zim had been, remembering how it felt when his lips first touched mine.

I frowned at the thought, deciding that at this point, I was so tired I was clearly delusional. Like Zim said, I had slept there before, and mistake or not, it wasn't a big deal. Honestly, even acting like a nervous school girl to begin with- no. I was Gaz. I did what I wanted, didn't have doubts, and didn't worry about the outcome.

'I have nothing to worry about,' I told myself firmly, rolling onto my side and closing my eyes, attempting to clear my mind once more. After a few moments of silence, I growled out loud, turning back onto my back and staring up at the ceiling in frustration.

Even after my pep talk, I found my mind still raced with questions, all of them intricately tied to a certain green alien only a floor below me. Zim wasn't as easy to write off now that he was older, and the fact that I was at his house, laying in his _bed_ didn't help in the slightest.

I gave a sigh of defeat. It was impossible to justify with myself why I was staying there. I simply didn't have an answer for myself. I just wanted to; I liked the fluttery nervousness the situation introduced me to, and that primal excitement of the unknown, as though a part of me wanted something to happen. I was apprehensive at the very same time though, it was hard to control what one didn't understand. I shook my head, closing my eyes once more.

I was being ridiculous and over thinking things. I didn't need Zim, I just needed sleep and I was done debating with myself what my motives were.

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It usually took me a few minutes to wake up on normal occasions, however, being in these abnormal situations apparently made it so I was a very light sleeper, because the moment I felt the bed shift, I was instantly awake.

I sat up; looking to see what it was that had woke me up. I was having difficulty seeing much in the darkness but unable to miss the red eyes that quickly found mine. I felt my breath catch in my throat. Was that Zim? I thought he said he would be down in his base the whole time? Why was he here?

"Zim, what are you doing here?" I asked, feeling the bed continue to shift beneath him as me seemed to move towards me.

Not answering my question, he continued to move from the foot of the bed until finally he had crawled over to me, moving over my legs and forcing me to lay back as he straddled my waist, his breathing deep as he leaned over me.

There was something so shocking, thrilling about him being so close, that even though he had taken me by complete surprise, I hadn't once even thought to push him away. Before I could begin to organize my thoughts, I could feel Zim place one arm between my shoulder and neck, leaning down and nuzzling the nape of my neck with his lips, his breath tickling my skin, the sensation successfully stunning me into silence.

"Gaz," Zim whispered against me, kissing under my ear teasingly, "I want you."

His lips began caressing down my neck as though trying to convince me to bend to his will, and without even thinking I threw my head back deeper into the pillow, giving him better access - something Zim took instant advantage of. Moving towards my exposed trachea, Zim's light pecks soon became open mouthed, his hot breath sending tingles over my skin, his teeth lightly grazing the skin and causing my whole body to start to ache for want of his touch.

Without mental consent, I let out an unsteady breath and moved my arms towards him, one pulling on the back of his neck, pushing him closer to me and the other around his back, tracing the planes of his shoulder. I could feel Zim smile in approval against my skin as he was pulled closer, moving his attention upwards before finding my lips, his kiss so passionate and incessant; I found I could only kiss back with equal fervor, pushing myself up from the bed to meet him. A small part of my mind demanded to know what I was doing, though with each fervent kiss and heated touch, I found the voice to become quieter and quieter, until it soon receded back to the depths of my mind, silent once again.

Moving his hand around the back of my neck, Zim pushed me further against him until I was sitting up fully, pulling my legs around so I stood on my knees, now eagerly pursuing after the attention he was giving me. I could feel my body react to his administrations, my breath was now shaky and unsteady, and my limbs were shaking with desire for more.

It wasn't enough.

Exerting an unstable hand forward, I moved my hand towards his waist, grabbing at the fabric and hissing between our conjoined lips, "Take it…off…Zim"

My response was a deep throated 'Hn', where Zim broke contact with me just long enough to pull the shirt over his head, throwing it off onto the floor and turning his attentions back onto me, his intensity greater than before. Pulling me flush against his bare skin, I gave a light moan at the forced contact, loving the feeling of my soft curves pressed against his contoured muscle. I could feel Zim release my neck, his hands moving down the sides of my body, one hand resting on my waist, the other sliding further down the small of my back, cupping my rear. I gave another breathy moan, throwing my head back as Zim broke the kiss, trailing down my neck towards the base of my chest, nipping at the skin.

"I've wanted this for so long." Zim mumbled, exerting himself forward until I was laying back across the bed again, straddling my waist and staring down at me smugly.

I found I didn't have a response for him, so I grabbed his forearm, pulling him down to my level, pressing my lips into his precisely, sucking and biting down on the soft tissue. I could feel Zim's breathing become more labored as lust clouded his eyes, though I knew that my own self control had dissimilated long ago.

Self control? I didn't know the meaning of the word.

I could feel Zim's hands trace over my abdomen as he met my actions, his absent tracing alone sending fluttering and heated waves to my core. I gave a weak moan, closing my eyes and shifting slightly as that powerful feeling took over me, all but shouting out when I felt one of his hands firmly grasp my breast, palming it through the fabric of my shirt.

"Nhmm Z-Zim," I cried out in a weak voice, one that I was very unfamiliar with, shocking me with how utterly wanton it sounded.

Zim had busied himself with palming my breast, marking down my neck once again, "What?" he asked, nipping down on a particularly sensitive spot, my only response being a sharp gasp as I arched into him.

Zim chuckled darkly, sitting up fully and resting his weight on my hips.

Panting harshly, I stared up at him questioningly, my body already crying out for him from the mere two seconds he had broke contact with me. I could feel Zim's hands resting on my hips, palming the ends of my shirt, as though asking for permission, running his fingers just beneath the edge of the material. Shifting across the bed, I nodded quickly, about to sit up to help him remove the clothing. Without a moments delay, I could hear the sound of tearing fabric; the chilled night air cresting across my abdomen, contrasting greatly from the heat I felt inwardly.

Zim wasted no time of my shocked reaction, instantly caressing the expanse of my newly exposed skin, removing the remaining tattered pieces of my shirt. His touches were feather light, teasing my senses. Regardless my destroyed clothing, I sighed happily, my body seemingly pleased with Zim's returning attention.

Running his hands down my sides, I could feel Zim's eyes racking across my body, his thumbs drawing mindless patterns against the edges of my bra. Leaning down, Zim pressed himself firmly against me, burrowing his face in the valley between my breasts, his hot breath sending a shudder through me in response.

Feeling his lips across the sides of my breasts, his body taunt against mine, I grinned happily, rolling up into him contently.

Yes.

I _definitely_ wanted him.

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I shot out of bed, panting harshly and looking around the room quickly for any traces of Zim, or any traces of _that_ happening around me.

Allowing my eyes to adjust to the darkness, I surveyed the room frantically, noting that I was still the only occupant. I looked down at myself, finding that my shirt was still intact and not ripped off of me, in pieces across the bedroom floor. Confirming further, the blankets were still neat and folded, not askew from certain activities, and there was certainly no Zim, advancing upon my chest.

Zim was never here.

…It was all just a dream?

I let my face fall into my hands, frustrated all the more by the apparent sensual dream my subconscious twisted into reality. I could still feel him there, feel his touches across my skin, and even though I knew the entire event was a creation of my own mind, I could still feel the pang of desire deep within my stomach, for Zim.

I pushed the hair from my face, taking a deep calming breath and mentally scolding myself. Such a dream served me right, sleeping in a man's bed like I was. I gave a groan of annoyance, forcing myself to lay back into the bed and try to get some sleep.

Intentional or not, Zim had done a fairly good job at keeping me up this evening, and I was not going to lose even a moments more of sleep because of him. Throwing my head back into the pillow, I purposefully thought of Dib, rainbows, the Amazon River, anything that would steer my dreams away from a certain green Irken once I fell asleep.

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"Gaz," I mumbled, shaking her shoulder and tiredly crawling into my bed, half asleep as it was. I had spent the rest of the night working on my ship and I had finally reached a place where I was just too exhausted to go on. After getting in the elevator, I made sure to look at the time, grimly noting that it was already eight in the morning. Though my Pak still had good energy reserves, my mind and body were long overdue for a revitalizing.

If I fell asleep now, I would be ready for the day by ten or eleven in the morning, which was when I assumed Gaz would be getting up anyway considering the human's capacity for sleep. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew it was a bad idea to crawl into the same bed she was occupying, but I was far too worn-out to remember to be precautious, my Pak already beginning to forcibly shut down my mind for self preservation.

"Gaz," I repeated, pushing her harder while aligning myself under the covers, attempting to fight my Pak's commands to fall into a dormant state, "Gaz I've got to sleep."

The resting human squinted her eyes tighter, rolling over on her side and facing away from me, "Fine…" she mumbled, almost inaudibly, seemingly going back to sleep herself. Giving a sigh of accomplishment, I closed my eyes, allowing my Pak to bring me to a resting state, asleep almost instantly.

Hours later, I slowly opened my eyes, mind quickly alert and fully function again. It was amazing what just a few short hours of rest could do for someone; I felt exponentially better.

As I started to move, I froze in place, feeling an extra weight across my body- a very warm, _soft_ extra sort of weight.

Clamping my eyes shut in dread, I slowly moved my neck upward, cautiously opening a single eye to assess the damage. I frowned deeply, allowing myself to fall back into the pillow again; a sense of dread running through me upon confirming my suspicions.

Gaz.

Sometime between when I had gone to bed and now, she had migrated in her sleep and was now draped across me; one arm placed over my shoulder, and the other exerted towards the edge of the bed frame, resting beside my head. Her head was pressed against my collar bone, and if I was careful to just move my neck, I could see her face, smooshed against the fabric of my shirt.

In any other situation, I would have found this to be adorable, however in my current standings, I was effectively wondering how I would get out of this. If she woke up to see herself wrapped around me, well, I honestly had no idea what she would do, but I was more than ok with not having to find out. The frustrating thing was that I had no part in this turn of events. I was still on one end of the bed; it was Gaz who had moved over and latched onto me.

I rolled my eyes, scowling at my predicament. If I tried to move, she would wake up. If I didn't move, she would wake up, just on her own time tables.

There really was no winning this game.

Time slowly began to pass by, and though I had been trying to think of ways where I might be able to slip out from underneath her, I found in that I was in fact just sitting there lamely, prolonging the inevitable. I wasn't afraid of her reaction per say, but yesterday had been awkward enough and I didn't want to add this on top of it. Again though, I reminded myself grimly, this was not of my doing.

Bringing me away from my thoughts, Gaz shifted slightly, much to my horror; stretching her arms outward. Was she waking up? Should I just run away now; deal with the consequences later? Before I could decide further, I froze to my spot in shock as Gaz continued moving, suddenly pressing her body firmly into mine and shifting fully across me, tangling her legs in mine and collapsing atop of me in the most intimate of ways, asleep once more.

My eyes went wide as I gaped in silence, craning my neck upward to look over her new resting position. Shit! I knew she moved in her sleep but this…I groaned internally,_ this_ just wasn't fair. I could feel her every curve pressed against me, feel each breath she took, feel her long legs wrapped in mine – I gave a ragged sigh, taking a calming breath and attempting to clear my mind of ideas of the many things I could do to her from this position alone.

She was just too damned desirable for her own good.

Fuck.

Deciding to end things now before they got any worse, I tried to move my legs from hers, hoping that I could place them onto the floor and slide out from under her in one way or another. Moving slowly and carefully, I successfully freed one leg. I let out a relived sigh at my progress, pausing for a slight moment to see if I had woken Gaz . After not even the slightest twitch, I took a calming inhale. Alright. Just one more leg to go, and then I could slowly push her off of me and be done with it.

I shifted my hips ever so slightly, ignoring the feeling of her being so close as best I could. I slowly began to shift my last leg outward towards the edge of the bed, holding my breath nervously. Before I could get much further, Gaz then moved her leg around my hips, successfully trapping me down into the bed again, somehow this position even more suggestive than the last.

I looked up, shocked at my worsening predicament. That had backfired to say the least. Now Gaz was even further pressed against me, and my mind began to start trailing ideas of its own over how this situation would play out in the end. As she moved, she pressed her hips back into mine, and I lost it.

"To hell with it!" I exclaimed loudly in frustration, pulling myself out from under her roughly, moving out of the room and down the hall, muttering profanities the whole way.

That Gaz- that difficult little human girl! Why was she making things so unbelievably difficult for me? Had I not been _actively_ demonstrating self control? Did she not see how much of an effect she had on me?

Damn it!

Moving into the elevator, I groaned, moving towards the wall and rested my head against the metal, enjoying the contrast between the cool metal and my heated skin. At this moment I wanted nothing more than to go back into that room and show her a few positions of my _own_ that I found to be most interesting and finish what had been started on that night months ago, but again, I was walking away.

I looked up at the elevator ceiling, shaking my head in dismay and wondering how the rest of the day would play out.

That girl really was going to be the death of me.

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Alright, that sums it up for this chapter! We finally got to see some heated GazZim action there – unfortunately it wasn't real (sorry about that) but it's a nice start. Insert dark evil face here.

Are you surprised it didn't take six months, or a year? Well, now that this is officially the only story I am writing it means that I can focus on getting the chapters done and revised in a more practical amount of time. In short, this means more frequent updates!

None the less, thanks for sticking around so far. I've started chapter nine, but I'm still looking at the time line to decide how much time I want to cover, as well as what happens in that time frame. Ah well, I will figure it out eventually. See you guys around for the next chapter!


	9. To Never Breakdown

(slams head into wall)

Noouuuu! Last chapter I got my first piece of feedback that completely floored me. Not to point anyone out because I really appreciate feedback, but one review did catch me off guard. The statement, in short, was that Zim's character wasn't really relatable, or even likeable. At first I didn't think too much of it, but I did want to verify if this was the only person to feel this way or not? It's been a constant nagging thought of mine since last update.

I want to improve my writing, so if you find Zim's character to be OOC or bland, why do you feel this way? Can you give me examples in the story of places where you feel his character was weak? Personally, I have reviewed this entire story multiple times since I read this review, and I find that I disagree. Zim is a young man battling mixed emotions from a situation he doesn't understand, this being the first time he's ever cared about someone for real. Is this really so difficult to relate to, for real? On the other hand though, I'm not here to argue this – to each their own. I know not everyone will agree with me and it's pointless to assume as much. The only reason I bring it up at all is because I do want to be a stronger writer. The issue is, after review I still don't see it, therefore cannot apply. To those who agree, help me understand. What am I looking for that I have missed?

Meehhhh. I feel as though I am starting on a rather dark note today. I don't want to talk about all the behind the scenes stuff – I really like this story as it's tons of fun to write. That in mind, if you have a comment about this, I'd love to hear it, but if not, enjoy the next chapter and keep coming back for more!

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Well.

This was awkward.

I grabbed the butter knife and cut off a new section of the waffle; the sound of the knife scrapping across the plate echoing across the kitchen walls, only testifying to how quiet the room really was. I put the waffle piece in my mouth, chewing slowly so I wouldn't make any further unnecessary noise, slowly shifting my eyes over to Zim.

When I had first walked into the kitchen, Zim had been working on some metal contraption, using a wrench to screw some bolts down into it, though when he saw me, his eyes went wide and he dropped the wrench on his foot, swearing loudly thereafter. After that, he seemed to find this morning's paper _very_ interesting because he buried his face into the pages and had yet to come out from them.

I made a small face, frowning in silence and swallowing the mouthful, grabbing the knife and cutting off the next section, cringing at the noise it made. I wasn't quite certain as to why Zim was ignoring me, but I knew very well why _I_ had little to say to him.

I closed my eyes, trying to forget the memories of my dream that replayed over and over again in my mind, mentally bringing my focus into anything else besides that.

"Did you sleep well Gaz-human?" Zim suddenly asked, his voice only a whisper yet still seemed to resonate across the room all the same.

"Just fine." I answered a little too quickly, noting that Zim peered out from the side of his newspaper with an incredulous look across his face, staring at me questioningly.

"What?" I asked with a hard glare, looking up from my breakfast plate and towards the Invader.

Zim shrugged, a small smirk pulling at his lips. He readjusted his newspaper, shaking his head as his smirk grew more pronounced, "Nothing Gaz human. Eat your waffles."

I gave him a suspicious glare, though said nothing further and continued to watch him through narrowed eyes. Normally Zim was clad in his typical black pants and red shirt, however, today he was wearing a black tee and blue jeans, complete with what appeared to be an oil smear across one of the legs. Not that I normally noticed what Zim was wearing, but there was something that caught my eye with him wearing such normal clothes. I decided in that moment that he should wear normal clothes more often. As much as he would deny it, they suited him well.

I frowned at the thought, and decided to disregard the observation all together. I could care less what he wore. I shoved the last bit of food into my mouth and proceeded towards the sink, rinsing off the dish and turning towards Zim, clearing my throat to break the silence.

"So what's the schedule look like for today, you going to be able to help me study these past math chapters?"

I watched Zim with mild interest, jumping up and resting on the edge of the sink while waiting for him to respond.

Sighing lightly, he folded the newspaper down, placing it beside him on the counter and turning towards me, "Well I made a lot of good progress, but I still have some things that I would like to get done before we start on math work again. So if you want to-"

I shook my head, holding up my hand to cut him off, "Hold on a second here, you've been working on that same something in your base for a while now if I'm not mistaken, yet you're telling me it's _still _not done? What in the world are you trying to make that takes so much time?"

Zim grinned fully, cocking his head slightly, "That's right human; I never did get to tell you, did I? I will be leaving for Irk soon to speak with the Almighty Tallest – only the best of Invader's are granted counsel with them so be assured that I am most-"

"Yeah yeah Zim. Congratulations," I rolled my eyes, not wanting to sit through another 'Almighty Zim' speech, "All I want to know is what you are making."

Zim stood up fully, his grin not faltering, "Alright, fine. Come on then."

Without further explanation, Zim grabbed my wrist, practically dragging me behind him and into the living room. Stopping in front of the sofa, Zim waited until it lifted from the floor, revealing yet another passageway to the lower levels of his base. He turned around towards me, his eyes glinting dangerously with excitement, "After you, Gaz-thing."

I looked down into the passage, shaking my head and giving a laugh, "Ha! Me, go back down there, after what happened last time? Are you insane? No way in hell am I going back down there, I have finals in just a few days!"

Zim rolled his eyes in exasperation; grabbing my wrist and pulling me down with him quickly, regardless my objection, "Honestly Gaz, you underestimate me." The elevator doors closed, moving us downward. I looked towards Zim, my mouth hanging open in shock, "You…you imbecile! I _don't_ want to go down there! I am staying right here and that's that!"

Zim looked at me, giving a huff as though _I_ were the person troubling him, "Look Gaz, at this moment you don't have a choice in the matter. You're already here so you might as well – you want to know don't you?"

The door opened, revealing the dark lab of sorts that Zim kept beneath the first floor. Zim signaled towards the door, earning a scowl from me, though none the less I decided that I might as well. All things considered, I doubted that Zim intended on letting me go until I saw whatever it was he was working on anyways.

"This way," Zim stated, grabbing my wrist and pulling me after him again, though this time his pace was much less hurried. As we moved across the various rooms I looked around, still just as amazed as I had been the last time I was here.

I found myself watching Zim as he guided me across the floor, the thoughts spinning in my head all tied directly to him. Just who was Zim exactly? I mean, I know that I had grown up around him, but I had never really cared enough to know anything about him. He was simply that annoying, stupid green kid that Dib was always shouting about.

Looking around at his base now though, you would never think Zim was an idiot; far from it in fact. Everything was organized, and as far as I could tell, each room had a purpose. One room we passed had an active global map, showing currencies and the global stock market fluctuations, beside that were stacks of newspapers and other information sources. Other rooms held weapons, granted I had no idea what each one did or even how it worked, but with how many video games I had played in my life, I knew a weapon when I saw one.

For one of the first times in my life, I felt a small amount of fear as I began to take in everything around me. Zim really was so much different from when we were all kids back in school. His plans were so juvenile back then; most of them revolving around a way to stop Dib, but now?

I frowned as I continued to take in my surroundings. Weapons, gathered information, supplies for battle – he _was_ an Invader. He had said this so many countless times but I had never taken him seriously. How could I? He was a three foot green kid that was always shouting things that didn't make sense, how was I supposed to know he would change into something far more formidable?

As I thought about it, I began thinking about whatever Zim was building now. He had been working on it for such a long amount of time, just what was it that he was attempting to create … or destroy? What if it was something that could very likely end all life on earth? Not that I was particularly fond of the human race, but would I really sit back and watch it all go up in flames, everything?

Me? Fighting Zim?

I didn't want to, but…

"Gaz!" Zim stated, waiving a hand in front of my face, grabbing my attention, "I _said _we're here. I want you to see this so at least _try _to pay attention."

I gave a short not, trying to clear my mind of the questions I didn't have answers to, hoping that Zim wouldn't catch onto my mental lapse.

Zim grinned with enthusiasm, moving behind me, "Alright, now check this out," he placed his hand over my eyes, standing behind me still, "Now take two steps over to the right … good, good…. And, look."

Zim moved his hands and I opened my eyes, observing the thing he had been working so hard on.

"It's a ship." I stated plainly, freely walking towards it to get a better look. Zim moved beside me, a proud grin still across his face. I smiled lightly, watching Zim in his plain excitement. He was just like Dib sometimes, especially when it came to things like this. As much as they had always hated each other, they really did have a lot of things in common.

They both were complete and total dorks.

"Not just any ship. I designed this myself," Zim moved in front of me, touching the side of the ship, following it around to what I was guessing was the engine, "It travels at a speed that you humans have yet to discover, so there's no term I can use to compare it. In short, it is incredibly fast."

"Perhaps you are referring to the speed of light, or some variant?" I offered, quirking my eyebrow as I watched him.

Zim waived his hand, as though waiving my comment off with it, "Light? Not nearly fast enough. At the moment it's not quite flight ready, but its getting pretty close. I'm hoping to be able to test fly it in a few days if all goes well."

I gave a nod, joining him in observing the inner workings of the vessel, looking up at Zim to find he was staring down at me with a pronounced grin on his face.

"…What?" I asked suspiciously after a moment of silence, watching him further. Zim turned towards me, "You wanna power it up? I was working on the electronics just last night but it shouldn't explode or anything dangerous like that."

I shook my head, shrugging in confusion, "Do what now?"

Zim laughed, "Power it up, see if it works – come on, do you speak English? Just turn it on Gaz!"

I rolled my eyes lightly, nodding after a moment, "Alright fine, but if it explodes you're a dead man, Zim."

"That's obvious." Zim mumbled, turning around for a moment and then back to me, grabbing my hand and drawing some symbols across my palm with a pen.

"Hm?" I said, holding my hand up for investigation, "What's this?"

"My temporary password," Zim explained off handedly, "It's Irken so that's why you can't read it, but you'll need it to access the database."

"Ah," I nodded, slightly intrigued by the odd symbols, "What's your password in English then?"

"One two three four."

"…Nice."

"I'll change it later."

"I don't care."

I gave Zim a playful smile at that, moving towards what I was assuming to be the pilot side entrance, climbing up the side, "Right here, Zim?"

Zim nodded, "Yeah, go in there and then press the yellow button. From there the database should turn on if all goes well. After that, enter in the numbers and I'll tell you what to do next. I'll stay down here so I make sure all the mechanics are responding properly to the central command system."

"Right."

I moved into the pilot's seat, turning on the computer base and watching the windshield seemingly transfer into a monitor of some form.

"Cool" I mumbled to myself, watching what I was assuming to be words load across the page, until finally, a main page loaded, requesting a password be entered in. Just below, a keyboard of symbols appeared, and I found myself grinning.

This really was incredible.

"Hey, touch screen right?" I shouted out towards the door, watching Zim from the interior. Seeing my grin, he gave a knowing smile back, nodding.

"Cool" I repeated to myself, pressing the corresponding symbols he had written on my hand, my grin only widening as the screen shifted to the main page. Granted I couldn't read any of it, but perhaps that's what made everything so fascinating to me. Being a gamer, I could appreciate technology like this. Even Dib wouldn't be able to deny how cool this was. I had always known Zim was a top notch inventor, but this was on a whole new level.

"You on the central command page?" Zim asked, looking up at me from the floor.

"I can't read anything, but I think so." I responded back, voice still raised from having to talk loud enough so he could hear me.

"Good, press the purple button in the upper right hand corner of the screen. That should enable manual pilot mode!"

"Uh…" I responded, looking across the large screen, "Got it!" I stood up from the chair so I could reach the button, tapping on it and watching the interior light up as pilot mode was activated. It was clear Zim had designed it with his own height in mind. Him being taller than me, every thing was just barely out of my reach when it came to things nearing the top of the ship.

A few of the electronics shifted and moved in response to the command, some form of steering wheel coming out from dashboard and resting just in front of the pilot's chair. The command page dissipated until it looked like an average windshield again, the command fully functional from what I could gather.

Watching the interior for an extended moment longer, I decided that everything looked up to par and towards the door. I moved towards the door, leaning outside slightly, "Everything looks great up here! How's everything going on your end?"

Zim looked up at me, acknowledging he heard me, then looked back down, crouching closer to the floor and moving closer to the underside of the ship, "Don't know yet, we'll have to see how it responds and runs to the system's commands; so far so good though."

After a few moments, there was a loud clicking noise followed by a deafeningly loud pop, and all the ship went dead at once. Alarmed, I jumped down from the interior, making my way over to Zim who was already surrounded in a cloud of thick smoke, laying back across the ground from the shock.

Mumbling something I couldn't quite understand, Zim looked up from the floor, fanning the smoke away from himself and coughing slightly. Wiping his hands on his shirt, Zim smirked, mumbling further, looking towards me and holding out his hands, covered in oil. With another laugh, he looked at me, then seemingly asking me a question in the same strange language I couldn't understand.

"Eh Zim … English?" I requested as I walked towards him, feeling the confusion fall across my face.

He gave a small laugh, shaking his head, "Right right, sorry. Your language isn't all that good for describing something as your root dialect is fairly limited. Sometimes it's just easier to speak in my own native tongue, but you don't really understand then, do you?" He gave a laugh again at his own private joke, then explained, "In short, I somewhat stated that it was…ironic I guess… that it exploded, how upsetting it was, because now I have ruined another fuel pump and a pair of jeans."

He cocked his head to the side upon seeing my response to his explanation, "It sounded more clever the way I said it the first time, if it helps."

I shook my head, a lopsided grin twisting my face as I helped him stand up, giving a small laugh of my own, "Well, I may not speak your language, but I would agree that those jeans are ruined. Shame too, they looked pretty good on you."

Zim cocked his head slightly as began to get his footing, a smirk falling across his lips in place of its previous smile, "What did you say? _Do_ go on Gaz-human."

I felt my mouth drop for a small moment, but I quickly regained my composure, shoving him to back down before he had his balance, smirking myself at the perturbed look he gave me once he hit the ground. I shrugged innocently, "I said nothing."

Zim stood up on his own, following after me as I made my way back through the base, remembering the way he had taken me through the first time, "You know, that's not what I heard Gaz. I heard something completely different."

I moved into the elevator, keeping my face completely stoic, though I could feel a trace of a smirk beginning to ghost across my mouth, "Well then you heard wrong."

Zim shrugged, leaning back against the wall as the door closed, crossing his arms across his chest smugly, "I could have sworn that you gave me a compliment, about how I looked of all things."

Quirking an eyebrow, I looked over towards him, allowing the conversation to go further regardless its flirtatious nature, "Me, compliment you? Zim, you are a complete mess right now in case you haven't noticed, so I think it's fair to say that you've seen better days."

The elevator gave a ding, the door opening slowly into the main living room again. Zim motioned towards the door, taking a dramatic bow as though I were royalty, earning as scoff from me as I moved towards the living room. As I walked out, I distinctly heard Zim utter, "Well _you_ look lovely today."

Turning on my heels, I looked at the alien, staring into his eyes questioningly, "What did you say?"

"I said nothing."

Zim moved past me, a cloud of arrogance following behind him. I glared at his back as he moved away, but found that I had no response to follow his words. Regardless our bantering back and forth just a mere moment ago, it sounded as though he had meant that, as an actual compliment.

I paused as that thought hit me, not certain how to take it. Truth being told, I found it all so flustering. What was happening to me; this wasn't right at all. I was Gaz. I didn't have friendships, didn't crave human connection, and most certainly didn't flirt with people like that.

I didn't know how to label what was going on between Zim and I, but from what I could see, it was spiraling out of control. It was just so frustrating! I was ok with how things were right now. I liked our picking on each other, cheap insults and general fun – I knew how to work with that. What took me off guard were those small moments where there was just that … something. I couldn't quite place what that something was, but it was there. It would happen every once in a while before but as of late it seemed to be happening more and more. This something really was getting out of control.

I shook my head, feeling a frown fall across my face as confusion tore across me.

"Gaz?" Zim asked, grabbing my attention, "You ok?"

Surprised, I looked upward, finding Zim had turned around, a look of concern across his face.

"Uh…" I scrambled for a lie, shaking my head slightly, obviously not wanting to explain my inner dialogue to him of all people, "Oh no no I'm fine, I'm just sort of worried about the math final is all. I don't know if I'll be able to catch up in time and if I fail the class my dad will be so mad at me…"

Zim, falling perfectly into the illusion I painted, shrugged his shoulders, smirking once more, "Gaz-human, your pathetic math homework should be of no concern, it's easy. I'm going to go clean up but we can get started on that when I'm done. I wouldn't give it another thought."

I gave a 'grateful' nod, waiting until he was completely out of sight until I gave a sigh, allowing myself to fall out of the fake character. How was I going to fix this, this something?

Needing something to distract me, I moved towards the end of the couch, grabbing my backpack and beginning to get started on my math homework, relieved to see that when I looked at the math problem, I actually knew what to do in order to find the answer.

Setting to work, I continued working, making sure that I was too caught up in my work to think about anything else. I went through my homework, equation by equation, trying to focus only on the problem at hand. To my dismay, I noticed that the more I told myself to think only about math, I found that I could only think about Zim.

Why?

Why Zim? Why was it always Zim as of these last few weeks?

Frustrated, I threw my pencil into the book, watching it bounce off the pages and roll a few feet away, just out of my grasp. As I reached out to grab it, I paused momentarily, hearing my cell phone go off from my backpack. Groaning at the interruption, I moved towards my backpack, grabbing my phone out from the side pocket.

"Hello."

"Gaz! This is so cool, guess what?"

I sighed as I shifted, leaning back against the couch, "I'm not going to guess Dib."

"…Right. Well, then I guess I'll just tell you, but you really are taking the fun out of it all."

Waiting for a response, Dib stayed silent, though realizing that I would not be adding into the conversation, he continued, "Well you're not going to believe it, but just twelve hours away there was a crop circle found in the shape of Elvis – ELVIS!"

"Wow." I responded with little enthusiasm, more commenting on the fact that Dib even cared, though he took it as me being surprised about the crop circle, only encouraging him to continue.

"I know! See, considering the fact that I am already prepared for my finals, I plan on driving down there to see it myself."

"Fascinating Dib."

"That's exactly what I was thinking Gaz, I mean, can you imagine the possibilities? Hey on a different note altogether, have you been watching the weather lately? You guys have some bad weather that will probably hit tomorrow, looks like a monsoon if the weather man is right."

"In Arizona?"

"They have them every year and this one is supposed to be bad. I'm just saying be careful Gaz is all. Don't stand by windows; don't go outside and stay away from flooded areas until it all clears up."

"Ok ok I'll be careful. You too though, Dad will be pretty pissed if you are all messed up for the holidays."

"Alright I will." Dib paused, responding after a moment, "Hey do you want any pictures? When I get there I can forward some to you if you-"

"Goodbye Dib."

I hung up the phone, placing it back into the side pocket and looking at the math book, scowling at the evil numbers.

"And how is the Dib-worm?"

Jumping at the sound of Zim's voice, I looked upward, finding that he was standing over me, an amused smile across his face, though he soon sat down beside me, moving the math book between us and grabbing my homework, surveying the work that I had managed to finish.

"He's … good …" I responded slowly, willing my heart beat to return to normal, "Still chasing after aliens and paranormal nonsense, not much has changed."

Zim nodded, "That doesn't surprise me. He was always so devoted to stopping me; that's partially the reason I moved to such a desolate area. I never really got much accomplished when he was around. I'd spend most of my time just trying to stop him from stopping me. So much wasted time."

I frowned at that, deciding to speak my mind, "Zim that's actually something that's been bothering me."

"Your brother? Well I think that's fairly obvio-"

"No" I corrected, suddenly frustrated and on the defensive, "I mean you trying to take over the earth. I never really cared as a kid, because as you just stated, you really weren't all that productive about it, but now," I paused, looking for the right words, "What _are_ you thinking? Why?"

Zim was taken back at my sudden demands, though responded with equal frustration, "Well for one, it's my _job_ to. Not that you would know anything of it because your race is so _stupid, _but all of the planets and galaxies are kinda at war, it just happens." He stated sarcastically, continuing, "For two, I just don't like you guys. Your people are a stupid waste of space and unique resources this planet offers."

I scowled, "Oh? Stupid are we? Then why is it that a mere boy was able to put a stop to you for years on end? If we're so 'primitive' then why are we still around?"

Zim moved closer to me, grinding his teeth as he spoke, "Like I said, my priorities were out of order. Mark my words Gaz, Dib-monkey was able to put a stop to my plans in the past, but I am not as naive as I used to be. I will destroy this planet and its people."

I felt surprised at his words, though glared at him darkly, "And me Zim? Would you destroy _me_?"

A long silence filled the room as I watched Zim's once narrowed eyes, widen in surprise, then slowly fall until it appeared as complete regret had filled him from the inside out.

"Gaz, you … I didn't mean it like that, you … you weren't supposed to take it personally I just-"

"Well," I responded, finding that his answer made me even more upset, "Destroying my friends, family…._planet_, is nothing _but_ personal, Zim! You know, here's a good question; if you hate this planet so much, then why do you hang out with me so much?"

Zim shook his head, an odd look washing over his face, "Gaz, come on, I don't think this is-"

I pointed a finger at him, turning my head sharply, "No, this is the perfect time. Why Zim. Unless you want me to walk out that door and never say another word to you again, you will tell me right now why. If we're _that_ bad, what makes me so different? What makes me so much better than anything else on this whole planet?"

Zim looked up at me, though gave a sigh, shaking his head and staring down into the floor, the fire in his voice long gone," Because you're the only beautiful thing on this whole planet that's worth saving."

Feeling my breath catch in my throat, I forced myself to take a deep breath, that having been the last thing I expected him to say, "…What?"

Zim looked up at me, his eyes somehow pleading with me to listen. "Gaz, the more you are around I just … I don't want to let you go. I don't what happened all those nights ago, but you're really important to me."

"Zim." I stated in a warning tone holding up a hand and feeling my breathing begin to speed up as my mind began processing his words.

"You are so different from anyone else I have ever met, Irken or human or any other race."

"Stop talking." I mumbled, noticing that Zim was reaching toward me, slowly running a hand through my hair.

"Gaz, you are honestly perfect to me. I can't say what will happen when it comes to the fate of the earth, but you have to believe me when I say I would never hurt you."

"Zim this is crazy. You're crazy."

"Now I don't know if I would take you with me or how things would work out, but I would find a way. Gaz, I-"

"Don't!" I whispered, all but hyperventilating as I continued to take his words in, "Don't please I beg you Zim. Just don't."

I tried to block out his words, but no matter what I did, all I could thing about was Zim, and that something. That something was back, and it was so strong this time, in fact it was suffocating.

"Gaz? Gaz are you … crying?"

"No!" I shook my head, trying to find some form of control over my spinning thoughts and boundless confusion. I just needed him to stop talking. I needed to think things through and find a logical explanation for all of this. Zim didn't really mean any of those words, no. None of them.

I stared into the floor, trying to calm my breathing, trying my best to ignore Zim.

As I attempted to think through things, Zim grabbed my chin, pulling me up to eye level with him. I couldn't help but shake my head in dismay, feeling too exposed under his gaze. I had to get away. That was the only solution. I was not ready to put myself in such a position; the only option was to run before there was no way out.

As if he could read my thoughts, Zim gave a sigh, shaking his head; equally as taxed as I was it seemed, "Why do you have to be so-"

"Zim I'm not try-"

"Difficult."

Before I could get out another word, Zim was in front of me, lips claiming mine as they had just the day before.

Alarmed, I tried to pull back, but found that with the way I was sitting against the couch, I didn't have the leverage I needed. Instead, I shifted my arm over to his chest, preparing to push him away. As I tried, Zim grabbed my arm, pinning it down my side, whispering against my skin, "Enough Gaz. Just give in already."

I shook my head, wishing I were anywhere else but there. I had everything so carefully calculated and planned. I told myself I would never get emotionally attached to anyone, not ever. When did Zim sneak past my barrier?

Grabbing my chin again, Zim looked at me, a pained expression across his face, "Gaz, if you want to fight that's fine by me, but can you look me in the eye and say that I mean nothing to you - That you would be completely fine if I were out of your life for good? You're making this so much more complicated than it needs to be, I _know_ you care."

His accusations made my throat tighten, and I found that it was difficult for me to respond. I was shocked when I felt a tear spill down my cheek. I really had been crying? I moved my gaze downward, avoiding eye contact with Zim, "I … I just need to think-"

"No. You don't need to think Gaz," he corrected, "You need to allow yourself to feel something, _anything. _Do you love me Gaz? Do you hate me - because honestly at this point if it means you giving me a real reaction over the fake 'I don't give a shit' façade then I'll take it any day."

I looked up at Zim, my eyes narrowing at his words. "Fine Zim." I mumbled, grabbing his neck and pulling him towards me, kissing him back, hoping that I was expressing every ounce of frustration I felt in the kiss.

He really had no idea what he was getting into to.

Iiiiiiiiiiiiii

I watched Gaz from the other end of the classroom, grinning proudly as I observed her in silence. Yesterday had been perfect. Perhaps it wasn't the most romantic of ways to enter into a more committed sort of relationship, but considering it was Gaz and myself, I was quite satisfied with how things had managed to work themselves out.

"And remember to be careful for these next couple of days students," the teacher explained, "it's expected to start raining around three, and should start flooding the area within a matter of hours. Whatever happens, be sure you are ready for the final. It's coming up so be prepared. Class dismissed."

I stood up from my desk, though waited until the class cleared out, joining Gaz at the doorway.

"Gaz-human." I addressed with a smirk, earning a punch to the shoulder at my smugness. I shrugged, "Good to see you too."

"I didn't think you would be here today Zim, don't you have work to get done?" she asked casually, acting as though nothing had changed between yesterday and today. I knew better to be offended by her cold demeanor; Gaz was always very focused when it came to school and getting things done. As I had guessed, she was the type that preferred to keep her professional and social life separated.

How boring.

"Gaz, come see me tonight?"

She rolled her eyes, walking past me and into the hallways, "Don't count on it Zim unless something awful happens. With all this rain coming, I'd be better off staying at my own place. Besides, I need to study."

I watched her walk away, grinning slightly.

Even after getting some of her barriers to fall, Gaz would still be Gaz.

She was _still_ as difficult as ever.

Headed back towards my base, I instantly went down towards the labs, setting to work on fixing the electronics. Based off of the response to being turned on, there was a few issues with not only the fuel pumps, but quite possibly the mother board as well that would need some working out. I would have to look at the energy input and output; it was likely I had the percentages wrong if it resulted in a spontaneous shut down like that across the entire system.

As I began to work on the more intricate of details, hours passed by until it was well into the night. I was vaguely aware of the rain as I had told Computer to watch the water levels to assure no harm would come to my base, but other than that had managed to stay fully committed to the task at hand.

Finally deciding to give it another try, I moved up inside the ship, turning on the database and watching my creation come to life. Needless to say, I was very impressed with my work. This ship put modern Irken vessels to shame. If it weren't for how over used they were, I would have likely applied to be programmed as an inventor when I was younger.

This was clearly the right way to go, being an Invader like I was, I could do both. Typing in the password, I began trying different options, listening to each sound the engine made, making mental notes on things to check later on.

"Master, there is someone at the door." Computer warned me, slightly confusing me.

"Eh? Computer, show me the outdoor camera feed." I demanded, shutting down the computer.

On command, the computer screen enlarged the camera views until only the one could be seen. At first all I could see was rain pouring down so drastically, but as I forced myself to try to see past the rain, I jumped to my feet.

"Gaz…" I mumbled to myself, instantly running towards the elevator.

I could see it in her body stance from the camera alone, something was indeed very wrong.

Impatiently waiting for the door to open, I ran out from under the couch the moment the door opened, throwing the front door open just as Gaz was about to raise her hand to open the door herself.

As I opened the door, water flew in through the door, the monsoon in full swing at this point, the streets looking more like rivers than anything else. Gaz had walked here through this …?

Pulling her in by her shoulders and closing the door, I ignored the pain the water caused, looking at her expectantly, "Gaz. What's wrong?"

With a shuddering gasp, she looked into the ground, tears falling across her face with the rain, "It's Dib. He got in a car wreck. Dad says he may not make it through the night."

Iiiiiiiiiii

And this concludes chapter nine! Thank you for your patience as it is about a week behind, but as you are all aware, consistency is not a strong point of mine. I know this is a long story and it still has a long way to go, but I do appreciate all of your support as I continue to write it. I hope that you continue to find it to be something you look forward to reading each time you see an update, though I do admit, this is a vicious cliffhanger. :D

Now on a different note, this ending here is actually a bit selfish, so for most of my readers you can disregard this, however to one of my particular readers – you know who you are - I have a message for you, dear reader. I've been wondering how to go about the issue and communicate with you, however as you know, I feel more alive - more expressive - when I am writing. If you want a proper response, this is as honest and heartfelt as it can get. I'm sorry the way things turned out, I really am. I _do_ mean that apology with most sincerity. It's not my intention on being introverted and to over think everything in my life, but I've learned things are just easier when I practice caution. It's better for me to not put myself in such situations that can lead to hurt, not just for myself but for others as well. I don't want to be that person to put you in such a position again.

That being stated, you are insane. Just going to point that out. And here's where it gets sticky. I do enjoy your company, and you _have_ grown to be someone I depend on. I lately have been reaming on you to be more selfish, though perhaps it's time that I take my own advice for once. After a lot, lot of thinking, though this sort of thing is something I normally run fast and far from, when it comes down to it, you aren't something I'm ready to loose just yet. I don't want to be overdramatic as my readers are probably pulling a (=_=) right now, but this is where you really learned about me and to me, this was the only proper place to respond. So, all that being stated… can we try things again? I did run, and I can't say I regret that, but I'm here now. I trust you.

Till then, I keep writing and thinking.

Midnight


	10. The Storm

*cracks knuckles*

So after, gosh, how long of a hiatus do I pick this story back up and shake off the dust? Too long! What surprises me is that to this day, I STILL get new readers, new favorites, and new comments. Believe it or not, I have not once forgotten this story, but life comes at you fast, and updates get pushed aside.

I can't help but smile at how devoted yall are. It fills my heart with rainbows :D I promise that one day, I really will complete this story. I will. It may take another fifty years, but I'll get it done.

To the poor, poor people whom I told I would update it at the end of the week (4 months , 5 months ago? More?) Yes, I lied. Sorry, I really thought I would update, but as you can tell, it didn't quite happen as I thought it would. SO SORRY! Very special shout out to those people who reached out to me, was told I would update, and effectively saw no results. *gives super yummy chocolate cake*

Also, _another_ shout out to my fans who so graciously defended my writing last chapter! Again, I know that not everyone will like what I write, but negative feedback is not at all what I'm used to, be it accurate feedback or not, so seeing so many people's strong responses against the nay-sayers was really nice. (And greatly entertaining) I cannot tell you how much I love yall – many of my real life friends have heard me talk about my readers :D You guys make me smile and keep me writing!

Apologies and such aside, glad to be back!

* * *

She had yet to say a single word in two hours.

She would stare at the floor, fidget, grab out her phone and sigh, and then look at the floor again.

It was absolutely maddening.

"Gaz," I began once again, hoping to stop this insanity, "Maybe if-"

"Don't." she cut me off, shaking her head and checking her phone for the hundredth time, "I just need to concentrate right now and think things through."

I closed my mouth, holding back an exasperated sigh. What was there to think through?

That stupid Dib managed to get himself in a car wreck, and now Gaz was in a mental daze trying to figure out how to go see him, which the weather would not permit. The planes had all been grounded until the storm let up so she didn't bother trying to book a flight. She couldn't safely drive in these conditions either, though I had to point that out to her. At first she was so adamant that she didn't care about the hazardous conditions - no car dared provoke her wrath and she would drive regardless the rain. I quickly reminded her that the car would inevitably flood, and she would be further away from the airport, so attempting to drive would only make things worse. She accepted my words with a scowl, continuing to glare at me for a while after that.

Each time I tried to add my thoughts in; she would cut me off with some excuse as to why they were invalid. She claimed that because I hated Dib, she didn't want to hear it, and wanted to work things out by herself. While it was true I found it slightly amusing that he was harmed due to his crazy studies, I couldn't quite feel pleased about this turn of events either. To her point, my mixed emotions had nothing much to do with that Dib-stink. I knew how selfish it was, but I couldn't help but feel aggravated that her attention went solely towards Dib and his well being, and not on me.

Just yesterday I had finally been able to crack the wall that Gaz kept around her, and I wanted to see where that development would lead. How long had I been watching over Gaz, jealous for her attention? Just when it seemed things would finally go the way I planned, this happened. The human was solely focused on the status of her brother, and barely noticed I was there at all. While I knew it maybe didn't change things between us, it did put a damper on what I was hoping to be a more progressive start to things.

After all this time, miles apart, Dib still found a way to put a stop to my plans. How typical.

As the hours passed by, Gaz became further exhausted and worn out, yet still she sat wordlessly on the couch. At this point it was well into the night, and though she wouldn't admit it, I could tell she was exhausted.

I frowned again as I shifted on the couch, wondering how much more of the insanity I could take. Gaz was just too stubborn to admit that her hands were tied, yet she fought so hard to keep the illusion of control in the situation. As often as she liked to keep updated and check her phone, call her father, check the weather updates, in the end, she wasn't doing anyone good at all by sacrificing her sleep.

Another twenty minutes went by, each moment only furthering to agitate the both of us.

I shook my head, deciding that enough was enough.

"Alright. That's it." I said firmly, grabbing her phone out of her hands as I stood up, "You are done with this useless sulking. You are going to bed, Gaz thing."

Gaz stood up, quickly trying to grab the phone back, though her fatigue made her movements sluggish and easy to predict. I continued to bat away her movements, finding it all too easy to keep her phone away from her. In any other circumstances, I would have smiled.

After a few minutes, she gave me a hard glare, moving directly in front of me, "Zim. I will only say this once before I slaughter you: Give. Me. Back. My. Phone."

Her threats did little to scare me, and my facial reaction must have showed it. Gaz quickly rolled her eyes, balling her fists, "Zim! This isn't a joke! There's nothing you can do to help me so the least you can do is not get in the way!" She threw her arm forward, punching into my shoulder, continuing to rant, "My brother is in the hospital and-"

"I can wake you up if anything happens!" I talked over her, grabbing her other fist preparing to launch itself into my abdomen. Forcing her to unclench her hands, I held onto her wrists tightly, "You aren't doing that worm any good by staying up like a zombie, so you might as well take care of yourself in the mean time. I have ability to monitor the weather and your phone and do all the things you are doing now. If you know you'll be traveling soon, you should sleep while you can."

Her eyes became conflicted and she looked down at the ground, visibly shaking, "But, Dib's hurt and-"

"Gaz."

My voice was still firm as I was growing impatient with her stubbornness. I released her wrists, crossing my arms over my chest and staring down at her, "Don't be difficult. Humans require sleep to function and if you plan to be any help to your brother you'll do so only when you are rested."

Gaz stayed silent for another long minute, then slowly nodded her head, "Okay. But you'll wake me up if-"

I nodded, my voice tone relaxing slightly once I was certain she would be getting rest, "Yes. If anything changes you'll know. I promise."

She gave a frown, nodding her head in response. She turned around in silence, robotically moving out of the living room and to my room slowly, exhaustion clear in her every step.

"Thank you." She whispered as she came to the door, looking up at me.

"Sleep," I responded simply with a wave, putting her phone in my pocket with my other hand. After watching her disappear into my room, I nodded in accomplishment and moved towards the lower parts of my base.

My eyes narrowed as I began thinking things over, feeling tense from the added stress of the evening. Nothing I could do to help her, she had said. Well, I would have to see about that. If it was just her needing to get to her brother in the hospital, then I could solve the problem entirely given enough time. My ship was close to being completed, so if I worked through the night, getting only a few thousand miles away wouldn't be so difficult. Besides, I would need to test drive it sooner or later, so this was the perfect opportunity.

Only after I was safe in the confines of my base did I take a look at my throbbing shoulder, already bruising from her landed hit. Rubbing the sore tissue, I shook my head with a ghost of smile. Even in such a state, that girl packed quite a punch.

Moving towards the ship, I sat down on the ground, setting to work on the wiring systems that supported the main control center. The design was still rather simple, but effective, and I was confident that I could at least get it functioning well enough for Gaz to get back to her hometown. Moving towards the wires that had caused the short, I frowned as I reviewed the damage. I knew there would be some issues with the wiring, though I didn't like the fact that I hadn't caught such a problem like this before hand.

As I began rewiring the system and stripping out the ruined units, I started thinking over my return to Irk. Everything was progressing as it needed to. Even with the added distraction of Gaz, I was relatively on schedule. My ship was in its beginning stages of completion, and with the small adjustments I was doing now; I knew that I would be finished entirely by the end of the week. I would test fly it tomorrow with Gaz, and upon return, finish it completely.

I gave a content sigh as a small feeling of accomplishment drifted over me. Once the ship was done, it meant I was that much closer to getting back to Irk. It had been so long since I had been home. I had been on this planet for years trying to doom it, and thus far all of my efforts had been rather pointless thanks to Dib. With the help and attention from the Tallest, I was certain that I would be done with this planet in due time. Soon this planet would be devoid of life, and I would return to Irk as a proud, successful Invader.

As I thought this over, the fame that Invaders received upon return, the honor, the medals and recognition, I found my mind soon switching onto a certain purple haired human just a floor above me. My hands stilled from their work as the dilemma hit me.

What was I going to do with Gaz when everything was over?

I had known from the beginning that I shouldn't have pursued her –I should have left her alone and continued my job, but I didn't care. I found her fascinating, and I saw no reason I couldn't at least be around her more. I was an Irken Invader, elite among the already elite, so if I wanted to seek the attentions of a lesser species, it was within my right to do so. That's at least what I had told myself.

I shook my head, continuing in my work. I was confident that I could still keep the two things in balance, however…

Things were becoming more complicated with each passing day. The more time I spent with her, the more protective I felt. Each day she spent in my presence, at my base and in _my_ bed, I felt more and more strongly that she belonged to me. She was my human toy I could observe and enjoy and keep for as long as I desired. I had never allowed laws and regulations to keep me from my goals and desires, and I wouldn't stop now.

What if I _couldn't_ keep her though? Irk had always been an elitist society that wasn't welcoming to other races, especially races that were being involved in conquest. If it came down to choosing exile in order to keep Gaz, after trying so hard this entire time to prove my worth as an Invader-

I felt my antennae pull back against my head as I continued to think the situation over. I didn't feel regret, I _wanted_ Gaz. I wanted her to be mine. Everything about her pulled me back to her. She was becoming an obsession. Now that I had a glimpse of what things could be like, any ideas of cutting things off seemed utterly ridiculous.

I smirked slightly, remembering how wonderful it had felt to have her lips on mine just yesterday. While kissing wasn't an Irken tradition, it was a thing that humans associated with attraction, and after having experienced it first hand, I could admit it was a tradition I found to be rather tolerable.

At first, I was simply hoping that I was doing it correctly. It seemed easy enough to do – press my lips to hers and hold them there – though soon Gaz further complicated things. At first I was caught up in attempts to figure out just _what_ she was doing, though I soon found that with her so close, focusing all her physical attention onto me, it didn't matter. I loved it. Her hands would move to my shoulders, up my neck, always moving, and always searching. As I held her gently, pulling her closer, she would sigh lightly and relax against me. She would smile against my lips, and just once, made a small sound that made me crazy. It wasn't quite a moan, more of a whine, and her face had the most beautiful expression on it. She opened her eyes, blinking once, looking disoriented for a small moment, then kissed me again. While not much else happened besides our kissing that night, I found some of her reactions to be so intriguing, I couldn't help but fantasize over _other_ things I could do that might gain a similar response from her.

Now that I could see a glimpse of the effect I could have on her, I couldn't help myself. So often before, it didn't matter what I tried or told her, she was never impressed. She never baited me with a notable reaction, and it was maddening. It seemed that there was nothing I could ever do to hold her attention, until now. When she was _distracted_, she was quicker to let her guard down. For that small moment on the couch of my living room, I was her world. I was the only thing that mattered, and the only thing she was searching out for attention.

I smiled in memory, hoping that soon things would return to normal so I could start this experimentation with the human again. In a few hours Gaz would wake up, and I hoped to have everything prepared by then. The sooner she could go see that wretched Dib-beast, the better things would be, perhaps for the both of us.

Adding a new fervor to my work, I began reviewing the wiring and ensured that everything was corrected and ready to go. With a few more adjustments, I was confident that it would be ready for departure once the human woke up.

Pulling out her phone as I stood up off the ground, I checked for updates on her brother's situation. I read through her father's various texts, confirming that not much had changed, though the professor had sent a few messages confirming that Dib would be going into surgery to repair a punctured lung soon. Though there was a small amount of risk involved, I wasn't worried in the least. I had never been that lucky. I knew that Gaz would want to be woke up for the possibility of Dib going into surgery, however I was certain it would only cause trouble. She would be worried sick, and I wouldn't be able to get any work done, as I'd have to watch her fret and worry until the weather cleared up.

Putting the phone back in my pocket, I stretched slightly, "Computer!"

"What Zim?" the voice responded quickly, a monitor coming down from the ceiling toward me.

Typing in the location of Gaz's hometown, I continued, "Program this address into the navigation system of the ship's database. With the corrections I just made, your systems should be compatible are they not?"

"Transferring data now. Transmission complete."

"Excellent!" I nodded, moving away from the keyboard and back towards the ship. With the processors now fixed, it made the rest of the corrections so much easier, "Computer, run a diagnostics scan on the ship, see what areas still need adjustment."

After hearing the list the computer found, I nodded again, pleased to hear that none of them were vital components that posed immediate danger. While they would certainly become an issue with extended use, a simple flight over a few thousand miles wouldn't be detrimental for a ship meant to travel across light-years of space.

Wanting to ensure there would be no elements of extreme danger, I climbed into the vessel, powering it up and watching as my work came to life. As the computer system booted up, I typed in the password, setting the flight controls to manual. I planned on running a small test flight now, perhaps just going a few hundred miles or so to be certain it would work before telling Gaz about my plans to fly her out of state myself. For now, I wouldn't go top speed. There was no need to move so fast through the atmosphere, and considering my ship wasn't fully completed yet, I didn't want to push the limits of its capabilities just yet.

Holding the controls, I reviewed the emergency systems, ensuring that if anything should go wrong, the escape pod would be prepared and accessible. I issued a command for the house to prepare for launch, and continued to hover the ship slowly until I ascended into the sky.

The second I was out of the house, I had to hold tighter onto the controls as the wind and rain beat against the ship fiercely. I scowled as I pulled at the steering wheel firmly – this storm was no joke. Ascending further into the sky and increasing altitude, I continued fighting against the weather, surprised at how much difficulty the storm was adding to this supposed to be simple test flight. Though I attempted to avoid the clouds as best possible, I still had to endure a miserably bumpy ride until I finally cleared the atmosphere, leaving the thick layer of black clouds below.

Engaging autopilot, I sat back in my chair, letting out a small exhale as I refocused my attention on the navigation system. Considering in space, directions were far more complicated then the mere north, south, east, west that Earth humans used, it was important to have a full detailed map installed within the ships own database. For the time being I only had an immediate and local map that detailed most of Earth's galaxy, as well as the actual planet Earth itself. Once I had a bit more free time, I would insure a healthy update would be installed before departing for Irk.

Satisfied with the navigation, I returned back to manual pilot, testing the response time to manual commands. With my most recent updates, I found the controls to be just as they should without hesitation and or misrouted commands.

Proud of my work thus far, I gave a small laugh and tested out a few more things before once again pulling my ship back towards Earth's surface and returning back into my base. I had gained quite a bit of feedback from that test flight, and would ensure I put the data to good use before making any serious trips with the vessel. Perhaps the largest area of concern was in fact the ship's defensive capacity. Considering I had built the ship in mind of speed, it didn't come as a surprise to me, however if something as simple as an Earth storm could cause the flight to be difficult, it meant the defense of the ship itself needed serious work.

Landing back at the base, I powered everything down and reset the bases security unit. I moved towards a nearby desk, starting to write down a list of things the computer had mentioned, as well as things I had noticed in the flight that needed some further corrections. Some of these things were simple fixes that the computer could install or correct electronically, while others required manual adjustments, which I wasn't too worried about. Preparing to tell the computer what would need to be done, I paused, hearing the elevator ding from across the lab.

Ah, Gaz was finally awake.

Moving to meet her (I didn't want her to fall and hit her head again) I moved across my labs, laughing at the image that greeted me. Gaz was still waking up so it seemed, and on her head was a still asleep Gir.

"Morning." I stated, noting she appeared rather tired regardless the night's sleep, "Did you sleep okay?"

She shook her head, rubbing her eyes and shrugging, "Not really, I'll feel better once the storm lets up. Do you have any coffee here?"

I nodded, turning her back toward the elevator and moving up to the kitchen, "Gir went through a phase where he liked all things coffee just a few months ago." I shuddered at the memory of a caffeinated Gir, willing the dark memories back in the recesses of my mind, "Let's just say that I learned to keep the coffee under lock and key, but I do have some left I think."

Gaz nodded, grabbing said robot off of her head and setting him on the couch before following me into the kitchen. I moved to the cabinet above the fridge, and only after I was certain Gir was still in sleep mode, I unlocked the cabinet and pushed away the various objects until I found the coffee canister.

Handing her the coffee grounds, I shrugged, "I don't know how to actually make the coffee though, sorry."

Grabbing it, she shook her head, "That's fine I can manage." She moved across the kitchen, searching through the cupboards until she found the coffee maker, "What happened while I was out? Any updates?"

"Nothing too notable" I stated easily, not quite ready to inform her of her brother's surgery just yet, "and the weather is just as bad. Doesn't look like it will be letting up for awhile still, however-"

Gaz slammed her fist on the counter, slightly startling me as the sound echoed against the walls, "Typical! That stupid Dib just_ had_ to get in a car wreck during a monsoon just to spite me. How he will pay."

I was about to explain the adjustments to my ship, but Gaz continued ranting, her voice lowering slightly as she became further frustrated, "He's such an idiot! Who goes chasing after crop circles and big foot and... He's just such an idiot!"

I tried to contain my chuckle, though I couldn't help but be amused. Gaz was usually calm and collected, albeit a little dark, but every once in a while, her emotions would get the best of her and I'd see a more animated side of her that reminded me so much of Dib. Not wanting to provoke her further however, I carefully controlled my reaction, preferring instead to watch her mumble to herself and finish making the coffee.

As the coffee began brewing, Gaz jumped up on the counter, focusing out the window and watching the rain pour to the ground. Moving across the room, I stood beside her, also observing the current weather status. Though it was difficult to see far past a few feet, I could see the roads were flooded beyond use and the wind ripped through the trees with notable force. With the rain beating down on the house, it caused a constant amount of background noise that set a form of stillness into the air.

For a long while, neither of us said anything.

"Does it ever rain on your planet?" Gaz asked, not breaking her attention away from the window.

I shook my head, pausing a long moment before responding, "No. There isn't a lot of what you humans call 'weather' on my home planet." It wasn't often that I was asked about Irk as no one knew that I wasn't a human, and the only one who had cared to ask before was Dib.

I knew better than to answer his questions.

"Weather is too sporadic and unpredictable." I continued, listening to the hum of rainfall, "As our technology became more advanced, we found a way to change the molecular structure of our atmosphere that makes the weather more constant and better suited for living conditions."

"Sounds nice." Gaz mumbled, seemingly more to herself as her eyes narrowed, "Not having to worry about the weather would be useful right now."

I smiled slightly, moving my focus from the window onto her. Her brows were pulled downward in thought, and there was a slight pout on her lips. Yes, in her own subtle way, her and her brother were very much alike.

"Gaz, last night I was working on my ship." I paused, listening to the rain for a moment longer before continuing, "I can fly you out to your brother."

My voice grew quiet at the end, and I watched Gaz turn towards me, her expression of pure surprise.

"You … what?"

"Your brother. My ship isn't perfect yet, but it's safe enough. I ran a test flight before you woke up and everything. If you want, I can take you to him."

A small smile pulled across her face as she looked down at the counter, then back at me, "Yeah. I'd like that. A lot actually."

I smiled back, surprised at how much better I felt to see a genuine smile on her face for the first time since she had heard about the accident. It put me at ease as well it seemed.

I nodded in affirmation, still grinning widely at the golden eyed human, "Well whenever you're ready to go, we should be there in under an hour."

She blinked in surprise at the time, though smiled even brighter and hoped down from the counter, moving toward the living room. Instead of continuing, she paused midstep, turning on her heel and back around again. Stepping up on her toes, she stopped in front of me, placing a hand on my chest and pressing her lips to my cheek, "Thank you." She mumbled lightly, her lips tracing along my skin as she spoke.

Grabbing her arm, I pulled her closer, looping my arms around her back and locking eye contact with her, enjoying the surprise in her eyes. "You are welcome, Gaz human." I responded simply.

Not caring enough if this was the right sort of moment or not, I pressed my lips to hers, moving my hands to her hips and pulling her against me. To my delight, she kissed back, her hands moving against my face as she pulled me gently lower towards her, her lips moving against mine with precision. Like before, she smiled against my lips, her hands moving down to my shoulders, while her thumb looped under the edge of my shirt, running against my collar bone. That action alone caused my insides to twist and a chill to run down my spine. She continued to press her lips firmly against mine, sometimes languidly slow, or other times quick pecks, increasing the intensity. She ran her hands down lower, the contact feather light before finally coming to a rest at my waist. I felt muscles across my body tighten and twitch at the contact, a shudder pulling across my body when she pulled my lower lip through her teeth. Without much further thought, I pulled her hair back, running my lips down her newly exposed neckline. As my teeth grazed down her skin, the human swallowed thickly, a small noise, not quite a protest, escaped from her lips.

Releasing her hair as I wasn't sure if I was hurting her or not, I was about to ask if she was okay, though the second she was free from my grasp, she crashed her lips to mine, an obvious shift in her demeanor as her tongue danced across my bottom lip. I inhaled slightly, not certain how much control I could exert before I simply gave up and backed her into a wall, doing what I pleased with her, barely able to keep up with the suddenly passionate Gaz.

She placed open mouth kisses down my jaw line, her hands framing down my arms and up once more, her hot breath sending chills across my body while it seemed pure lava ran through my veins. Joining her for an opened mouthed kiss, I let my tongue explore into her mouth, tracing along her teeth, noting the distinct differences between my own tongue, and hers. I felt Gaz shudder in my hold, a small whimper coming from the back of her throat as she gasped lightly. I pulled my hand from around her back, pulling her hair back and nibbling down on the base of her neck, being driven boldly by her responses, wanting to taste, explore, and claim.

The coffee pot chimed with a loud beep, and while it didn't bother me in the slightest, I felt Gaz tense slightly.

Her hand fisted in my shirt tightly, and she pulled back, lowering her head downward and breathing irregularly. For a long moment she just stood there, not moving, continuing to breathe as though she had been out of breath entirely.

"The coffee's done…" she mumbled, finally daring to make eye contact for a small moment, before looking across the room again.

I couldn't help but wonder if I had done something wrong that made her stop. Just as I was about to ask, she looked back up, her face flushed and though she was smiling, she looked uncertain and was avoiding all possible eye contact. I moved my head downward, trying to figure out what she was doing, though she looked further across the room and her face turned an even darker shade of red.

Was… was she shy?

Watching her for a few moments longer for confirmation, I smiled at my new found discovery, dropping my hands down to her hips gently as the previous passionate moment melted away.

Pulling her chin up lightly, I smiled, laughing slightly and kissing her gently before speaking, "Well then you pack what you need, and I'll be in my base whenever you're ready."

With that, I left the mortal in the kitchen, moving towards the elevator. I shook my head fondly, feeling quite content and not nearly disappointed as I thought I would be, should some event like the beep of a coffee maker stop my more recent activities with Gaz. The girl was so addictive it was dangerous. It seemed as though I was often placing my life on hold just to gain some form of acknowledgement from her, but I couldn't help it. Whatever it was about her, something I couldn't place my finger on, something pulled me back to Gaz. And that something was incredibly strong.

Besides, if I got to see her smile like that again, it would all be worth it.

* * *

"Dad!" Gaz exclaimed, seeing her father and moving quickly towards him. I quickened my pace to keep up with her, a general feeling of unease washing over me. I wasn't quite certain what I had been expecting after bringing Gaz to the hospital; however staying here with her and her father was not what I had envisioned in the least. I had assumed that I would drop Gaz off so she could be with her father, and she would either fly back, or call me and I could pick her up again.

Not once did I picture her wanting me to stay at the hospital with her.

It should have been painfully obvious to everyone that I didn't belong here. I should have been one of the last people to be sitting in a chair, waiting for the doctors to come out and give updates on his health, yet apparently Gaz believed it necessary, and after telling her that I didn't want to stay, she demanded I give a single reason as to why not. After I was unable to provide an answer she deemed acceptable, she nodded, stating that it was final, and I would be staying with her at the hospital. It was infuriating. Had Gaz forgotten that just a short year ago, Dib and I were sworn enemies, always trying to foil the other's schemes?

Honestly, if things hadn't changed between myself and Gaz, had I heard about Dib getting in a fatal car wreck, I would have counted the news as a joy, a blessing even. How many times had I tried and failed to get that cursed Dib out of my life for good with no results? Far too many. And now, I was supposed to sit here and wait, in hopes that he would make a full recovery?

I frowned in distaste.

Simply _being_ here made me uncomfortable. The air was stale, the halls were painfully dull, and everyone walked around with either a sense of duty, or the complete opposite of a death march. It was just another thing to add to the list of why I hated the humans. Their medical facilities were disgraceful at best. It was no wonder the average life span of a human was so short.

The professor greeted his daughter in a hug, seemingly pleased to see her. "Gazlyn, it's great you arrived so quickly. Does the school know yet?"

Pulling away from her father, she nodded, "Yeah, we made sure to call them on the way here. Oh, speaking of which, this is Zim. You've met him a few times before."

Pulling my attention to the Professor, I was surprised to see him exert a hand. Shaking it slowly, I watched the professor warily.

"Ah yes, you are that foreign exchange student. It's great that you are here to support Dib, I'm sure he would appreciate the thought."

"Well I-" My thoughts were cut off as a nurse came toward the area, carrying a clipboard and moving towards the professor quickly.

"Professor Membrane?"

"Yes, that's me. This is my daughter Gazlyn, and a friend of the family – eh..."

"Zim." I stated simply, mentally grimacing at the term 'friend of the family'. It was painfully ironic. If only the professor knew what his son did, I was certain this meeting would have turned out differently.

"Welcome welcome," the nurse responded with a nod, "though I'm sorry you are here on such circumstances. You'll be pleased to know that Dib is out of surgery."

I could hear Gaz gasp in surprise and I could feel her eyes narrow as her attention turned towards me, though I pretended not to notice and continued looking at the nurse.

"Everything went well, though he is still very weak. We have him sedated for the time being until a doctor gives a further detailed plan now that the surgery is completed. As for the time being, he can take guests. His room is on the ninth floor but considering we still don't feel he's perfectly stabilized yet, only one at a time, and only immediate family."

Her eyes fell on me and she frowned apologetically, "I'm sorry."

I responded indifferently, though was inwardly relieved I wouldn't be forced to confront Dib, "That's fine."

The nurse nodded, giving one last look towards the Professor, and moving hurriedly back up the hallway before disappearing into an elevator.

"How about you go Gazlyn?" the Professor stated after a moment, moving towards a bench near the bland white hospital wall, "After flying all this way here I'm sure you want to see him."

Gaz nodded mutely, looking at the floor nervously before seemingly gathering her surroundings and looking back up with determination.

"Right. Well, I'll be back soon I guess."

I watched Gaz walk away, wondering how she would take to seeing her brother. Not that I wanted to be around Dib myself, but I saw what she was like last night, and the idea of her having to face her brother alone made me worry.

"So Zim, tell me about yourself. It's been a while since I last saw you, what country did you say you were from?"

I grimaced slightly as I turned toward the Professor, the term 'awkward' not even beginning to cover the current situation at hand.

Gaz owed me big.

* * *

I gave a sad smile as I walked into Dib's room, surprised to see just how much medical equipment that he needed to in order to survive right now. As horrifying as it was to see him like this, simply being able to see him made it so I could release a breath I hadn't known I'd even been holding onto. Dib was alive.

"You're such an idiot, you know that?" I mumbled, sitting in the chair beside his hospital bed.

There were so many monitors and IV drips surrounding him. He had a neck brace, and arm splinted across his body, and various gauze pads and bruises as well. He looked just as bad as they said he would, yet seeing him in person was vastly different. He was so pale. He was in terrible condition, but finally stable.

"A complete idiot." I summarized, shaking my head.

I sat the next few minutes in silence, simply listening to the heart monitor sound. It was amazing how much hope that simple little monitor gave me. Each beep was a reminder, proof even, that my brother was still alive, and still fighting. Each new spike on the radar showed that my brother was still here with me, and still had a chance to recover.

I shook my head, exhaling slightly as I allowed a feeling of relief to wash over me. I had never been one to care much about family or such, but as odd as Dib was, he always tried to watch out for me. Granted I had never needed it, but his efforts didn't go unnoticed. When I had heard that Dib had gotten in a serious car wreck, I didn't know what to think. Dib had always been there to annoy and pester me. It scared me to think that he could just be gone one day.

I would have to thank Zim. I knew that he was the only reason that I was sitting here by my brother, and as much as I didn't like to admit this sort of thing, it meant a lot to me.

Thinking of my more recent changes with the alien, it brought a smile to my face. It felt so good to smile. I had only found about Dib's car wreck less than forty-eight hours ago, yet it felt as though things hadn't been right for years.

"You know Dib," I began, grinning to myself, "sooner or later you'll find out about Zim, and you'll have an absolute heart attack – which will serve you right you know, putting me through all this."

I crossed my arms and sat back in the chair, trying to become more comfortable in the hospital's old furniture, "And when you do find out, you can't hurt him. He's the only reason I'm here right now, so if anything you need to thank him. I know, I know, I can already hear you're annoying voice in my head. He's an evil space alien, blah blah blah," I gave a small laugh, "but there's so much more to it than that Dib. You're so bull headed."

I sighed, furrowing my eyebrows as I thought over the proper words to use, the beep of the heart monitor sounding against the pale walls. Why I was even being so careful about it, I don't know – Dib was unconscious and couldn't hear a word I was saying, yet still, something compelled me to explain myself further. There was something about the honesty of this entire situation, the fact that Dib _could_ die, that made it so I wanted to be just as honest with him. In this one small, still moment, I didn't want to pretend.

"At this point, I would have to say he's my closest friend. I really care about him."

I let my words sink in, continuing shortly after, "Sure he's a little unorthodox at times but, I think he's a good guy. He just can't seem to catch a break is all. No one seems to ever listen to him. No one wants to take him seriously; he's just sort of the guy that society in general seemed to forget. Honestly, it's a shame you guys can't see eye to eye. You have a lot common, more than you know."

I paused again, sitting in silence for a long moment. "He's the guy that kissed me Dib. He's the one I told you about on the phone, I didn't want to tell you then. I went back to see him, and we talked, and then we kissed again. I don't think we're exclusive or anything, and with everything going on now that you're in the hospital, it's not really a major concern of mine. It's just odd because now that I think about it, it seems like I'm there more and more often."

I gave a light pause, smiling slightly, "The other day I had to go through the fridge and throw out a lot of old food that had gone bad. I've been at Zim's off and on so much that I eat whatever's at his place, so my own food spoils. Crazy isn't it?"

I frowned, "But then there's the issue of him wanting to take over the world." I shook my head, a small feeling of hurt clouding my previously chipper demeanor, "He can do it you know. I really think he can. Maybe you were right all along to have feared him back in school. I know, you weren't 'afraid' or whatever, I know that's what you'd be saying right now if you could, but I can see through it. You always were afraid that he would one day destroy the earth. Maybe it's silly, but I can't help but hope that-"

A knock on the door interrupted my train of thought. I turned around, seeing a nurse entering the room. "Hi Ms. Membrane, I'm Dib's nurse, Melinda. If it's alright with you, I'll need you to exit the room so I can administer his treatment please."

I allowed her words to sink in, finding a small bit of disappointment run through me. It seemed as though I had just gotten there, had my allotted time expired so quickly? Not wanting to prohibit the nurse's work, I stood up quickly, nodding, "Of course. I'll just head out then."

I moved towards the door, grabbing the handle and turning around, "He is going to be ok, right?"

The nurse looked up from her paperwork, smiling, "Though there is a small chance that the treatment could fail, you have a strong brother who seems to be fighting to the best of his ability. I'm very optimistic about his recovery."

I smiled slightly, exiting the room.

Yes. Dib was a complete, and total idiot.

* * *

And there you have it. Alright, so yall know how much I love my paid advertisements here - but hey it's my own writing right? For everyone who is wanting to read something (maybe?) new to them and stick to Invader Zim, I wrote a one shot a while back, My Metamorphosis? It's written from the perspective of Gaz, and it's kinda a dark angsty sorta piece. I'd love to see some more traffic on that story cause I love how it turned out. So if yall are bored... *baits with chocolate*

Anyhow, thanks for sticking around guys, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Read and review, and I'll see yall around at the next update!

~ Midnight


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